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The Voice Catchers

How Marketers Listen In to Exploit Your Feelings, Your Privacy, and Your Wallet
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( 58 ratings, 9 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In The Voice Catchers by Joseph Turow, the book delves into the intriguing world of voice recognition technology and its implications on privacy and personal identity. It explores how companies have developed the ability to capture and analyse voice data, turning it into a significant asset. The narrative links these technological advancements with broader themes of surveillance and consumer influence in modern society.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're interested in the power dynamics behind voice technology and its impact on privacy and society. This book delves into the often unseen influence of voice recognition on consumer behaviour and surveillance, making it a compelling read for those curious about the intersection of technology, marketing, and ethics.

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Your voice as biometric data, and how marketers are using it to manipulate you

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Your voice provides biometric data. How are marketers using it to manipulate you?

“[Dr. Turow] is encouraging policymakers and the public to do something I wish we did more often: Be careful and considerate about how we use a powerful technology before it might be used for consequential decisions.”—Shira Ovide, New York Times

Only three decades ago, it was inconceivable that virtually entire populations would be carrying around wireless phones wherever they went, or that peoples’ exact locations could be tracked by those devices. We now take both for granted. Even just a decade ago, the idea that individuals’ voices could be used to identify and draw inferences about them as they shopped or interacted with retailers seemed like something out of a science fiction novel. Yet a new business sector is emerging to do exactly that.

The first in-depth examination of the voice intelligence industry, The Voice Catchers exposes how artificial intelligence is enabling personalized marketing and discrimination through voice analysis. Amazon and Google have numerous patents pertaining to voice profiling, and even now, their smart speakers are extracting and using voiceprints for identification and more.

Customer service centres are already approaching every caller based on what they conclude a caller’s voice reveals about that person’s emotions, sentiments, and personality, often in real time. In fact, many scientists believe that a person’s weight, height, age, and race, not to mention any illnesses they may have, can also be identified from the sound of that individual’s voice.

Ultimately, not just marketers, but also politicians and governments, may use voice profiling to infer personal characteristics for selfish interests and not for the benefit of a citizen or society as a whole.

Leading communications scholar Joseph Turow places the voice intelligence industry in historical perspective, explores its contemporary developments, and offers a clarion call for regulating this rising surveillance regime.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Voice Catchers by Joseph Turow is described as a critical examination of how technology is transforming our voices into tools for surveillance and profit. Through a rigorous and well-researched narrative, Turow reveals the potential consequences of voice data usage on personal privacy and democracy, urging readers to be mindful of the technology's implications. The book is lauded for its clarity and depth in exploring this emerging frontier of exploitation, acting as a wake-up call for safeguarding our personal expressions.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780300268164

Publisher: Yale University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 24 January 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: Yale University Press

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 156.0mm

Height: 235.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 344

About the Author

Joseph Turow is the Robert Lewis Shayon Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently The Aisles Have Eyes.

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