COnspiracy theorists of the world, tear off that tinfoil hat and bow out: you were (sort of) right. Despite the fact that pretty much everyone has a story about chatting about something and then seeing an ad for it pop up on a device, the idea that your phone is actively listening to you has long been dismissed as nonsense. After all, brands don’t need to eavesdrop in this way – they already have access to millions of data points that build up a detailed picture of your habits and predicted purchases.

But just because brands don’t do that need Just because people are listening in on your conversations doesn’t mean there aren’t companies coming up with creepy new ways to mine your data. 404 Media, a tech-focused news site, recently obtained a pitch deck from Cox Media Group (CMG) touting its “Active Listening” software, which targets ads based on what people say near their device’s microphone. The presentation doesn’t specify whether this voice data comes from smart TVs, smart speakers, or smartphones, but the slide touting “the power of voice (and our devices’ microphones)” includes an image of people looking down at their phones.

I’m not going to make the predictable Black Mirror reference, because CMG has already done that. When 404 Media reported on Active Listening last year, CMG’s website had the following (now-removed) text: “What would it mean… if you could target potential clients who actively discuss their need for your services in their everyday conversations? No, it’s not a Black Mirror episode – it’s Voice Data.”

It’s hard to say how widespread the service is, but CMG’s deck lists Facebook, Google and Amazon among its partners—though that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve partnered on this particular technology. Amazon, for its part, has said it’s never worked with CMG, and Google removed CMG from its Partners Program after the 404 report. Facebook’s parent company, Meta, said it’s investigating whether CMG violated its terms of service. While many details remain murky, this much is clear: Privacy died a long time ago. Nothing is off-limits to some advertisers—there have even been experiments with “targeted dream incubation” in an attempt to brand your dreams. The future is a precisely personalized, highly targeted nightmare.

Arwa Mahdawi is a columnist for The Guardian