Google says the built-in microphone it never told Nest users about was 'never supposed to be a secret'
People keep buying crap to hasten their own personal destruction. Does no one pay attention to what these shits (Google & Microsoft) have been up to?
Google says the built-in microphone it never told Nest users about was 'never supposed to be a secret'
In early February, Google announced that its home security and alarm system Nest Secure would be getting an update — users could now enable its virtual assistant technology, Google Assistant.
The problem: Nest users didn't know a microphone even existed on their security device to begin with.
The existence of a microphone on the Nest Guard (which is the alarm, keypad, and motion sensor component in the Nest Secure offering) was never disclosed in any of the product material for the device.
On Tuesday, a Google spokesperson told Business Insider it had made an "error."
If @Google's @Nest Secure devices really had secret microphones that they hid from consumers, those consumers should probably be forgiven if they don't trust the company's after-the-fact promises that it never spied on them. #DontBeEvil https://t.co/sZsFC31zdV via @csoonline
— Tom Zeller Jr. (@tomzellerjr) February 20, 2019
https://www.businessinsider.com/nest-microphone-was-never-supposed-to-be...
Going by past actions, I seriously doubt that the microphone was inactive.
Comments
I ignore all attempts to seduce to me into talking to Cortana.
I will never converse with Alexa. I will never send my DNA to ancestry.com or anything like it. A couple of months ago, however, I went to one my endocrinologist, who, with no prior notice or explanation, began the visit by asking if he could take my photo! Because I am not great at saying no, I stupidly said yes. But, wtf?
The next day, I called his assistant and asked him to make certain that my pic went nowhere. He assured me he would take care of it, but it may have been too late. And, despite the cute ads that aired this past Christmas season, why do any of your devices need your fingerprint to activate?
I wonder how many of our tax dollars are subsidizing private companies who attempt to seduce us into providing stuff that could hang us and/or those with whom we share a lot of our DNA?
DNA
I read somewhere, quite recently, that it won't be too much longer that everyone in the United States (I don't think it was worldwide; although I could be wrong, I tend to think non-Americans are less stupid when it comes to things like paying for someone to commoditize their DNA) will be able to be identified through a third cousin.
Members of my family have done the Ancestry and 23andMe thing, and I'm so pissed off about it. People should have to get written consent from their relatives. I wonder how long it will be before the first lawsuit?
My sister did both and I am not happy about it.
Heaven forbid one of our ancestors, same generation relatives or descendants spits anywhere near a crime scene!
Only two percent of the population needs to send in
their DNA for the cops to tie it to everyone in this country.
I don't understand why people aren't worried about giving up their 4th amendment by buying devices that spy on them. Got in a Twitter spat with someone who doesn't think it's out of line for Amazon to be working with cops and our government. Idiots.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
All these gizmos are a sign of being ‘cool’
(and lazy IMO).
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
I'm not going to use one of those handy devices
that record my number of steps, either. Physiological info from my body, going directly...somewhere.
But of course those devices couldn't possibly be hacked, right?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I remember at Festivus this year, I apparently insulted folks.
By referring to my Festivus gift as a "Shitbit".
Was never happier to see it grabbed by somebody else.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
People rarely even stop to think that
something like that can be hacked. Of course, they’re also too stupid to be able to understand that 13 hackers did NOT cause The Clinton Creature to lose the election.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
Cortana, Alexa: just Genies with their loyalty elsewhere.
Don't know about you, but I don't trust Sakura to save me from the evil with his magic...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCYfrAPEz38]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
This is why I don't have alarm systems.
I'm ashamed to say that I stupidly "registered" my new HVAC to get a longer warranty, not realizing that what I was doing was giving access to my HVAC information to some unknown people out on the internet.
But I'll be damned if I let fear of criminals bully me into giving someone else a way of looking or listening into my home.
It's bad enough that televisions, when turned off, have similar devices. I'm not sure whether my plasma tv is "smart" enough for them to be hacking into my home, thusly:
One lovely touch is that Samsung seems to be particularly involved in this. I have a Samsung.
I guess this is one additional benefit of CAFTA. Gotta love that Korean free trade agreement.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
We bought our flatscreen
About 12 years ago, which--once all this "smart TV" crap started leaking out--I'd presumed was before TVs could spy on you.
But I'm not so sure. Every day, it makes the same noise it would make if we used the remote to turn it on or off. Of course, the screen remains blank.
It's been doing this from the beginning, but I never thought anything of it until recently. I think the only thing we may have going for us is that we dumped cable about 6 years ago (although we do have AppleTV, so nevermind). We're all screwed whatever we do.
Mine is old too, of about the same vintage.
I would really like it if it weren't spying on me, not because I think I can stop them gathering data on me but because it's just really fucking offensive what they're doing.
Everybody who thinks the nice surveillance software is going to save us from national danger, raise your hand.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
It's so interesting how folks
don't seem to mind they are purchasing spies and bringing them into their homes. All those devices - Alexa, et.al. - are nothing more than spying devices. I have old TV's. My phone is my only problem, I think. I don't enable siri, but that might not be enough. Quien sabe.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
It's worth checking your settings
And disabling microphone access for any apps that have it. I think some of them install with that as a default.
Good advice, eagles ~
fortunately, my TV's are old and don't have camera or microphones. My iPhone and iPad are the culprits in my home, sigh.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
That's what I meant. :-)
Check your phone's settings.
I'm juggling too many things today and only partially making sense on any of them.
That is a key point
We are rapidly enabling government and corporate monitoring of everyone in the "developed" world. We are also allowing companies like Google and Facebook to decide what news is fit for us to see. With the open internet gradually closing we are putting into place tools for thought control that dystopian novelists like Orwell and Huxley could never have imagined. And few seem to see the threat or care about it.
Agree 100%, Roy.
It frightens me that the American people are so gullible. I have friends that have Alexis and I've sent them many articles on how they are being recorded and listened-in-on, to no avail! They continue to use it because, "they don't have anything to hide from the gubmint!" I call BS - we ALL have something to hide!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Start talking against mobile devices in public
and watch the fascinating reactions. It's like watching people defend a religion. (My partner says, or an addiction).
The irony is that I love the digital world, got on it as soon as I could in the early 90s, and have, at different times, definitely been addicted to computer gaming and/or websurfing; it's not like I'm a Luddite.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver