Google Home Ends A Domestic Dispute By Calling The Police (gizmodo.com)

An anonymous reader quotes Gizmodo: According to ABC News, officers were called to a home outside Albuquerque, New Mexico this week when a Google Home called 911 and the operator heard a confrontation in the background. Police say that Eduardo Barros was house-sitting at the residence with his girlfriend and their daughter. Barros allegedly pulled a gun on his girlfriend when they got into an argument and asked her: "Did you call the sheriffs?" Google Home apparently heard "call the sheriffs," and proceeded to call the sheriffs. A SWAT team arrived at the home and after negotiating for hours, they were able to take Barros into custody... "The unexpected use of this new technology to contact emergency services has possibly helped save a life," Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III said in a statement.
"It's easy to imagine police getting tired of being called to citizen's homes every time they watch the latest episode of Law and Order," quips Gizmodo. But they also call the incident "a clear reminder that smart home devices are always listening."

Comments

Many Possible Permutations Not So Good

[Frosty Piss]

In the end, perhaps it was a good thing.

But consider that Google Home missed the part about it being a question. I can see other situations where such a sentence might be used where I didn't want a SWAT response or any response at all.

Yes, I understand the 911 people listened in and made the decision to respond based on what they heard, and again in THIS case they were correct.

But there are all sorts of permutations of this where Google Home and whoever they called might be bad.

I certainly don't want to be sitting around bad-mouthing my employer / parents / next door neighbor who owns guns / [insert someone else here] and have Google Home call them so they can here it all...

Re: good thing that the GOP will not give out well

[Sarten-X]

There is always fraud. If it's possible for someone to get the assistance while still getting income from illegal or under-the-table dealings, someone will do it, even if just as a way to get by while "sticking it to the Man". Yes, that creative ingenuity would probably be more profitable in a legal enterprise, but there is always someone who just wants to get away with a scam. Remember, humans are horrible creatures.

Re:abcnews article is updated, device not Google H

[Anonymous Coward]

When will they update it to state what actually happened?

1. Police receive 911 call about domestic dispute from woman who pretended to call someone else.
2. Man asks woman "Did you call the sherriffs?"
3. Woman denies it.
4. Sherriffs show up, man starts threatening woman because she lied to him.
5. Sherriff spots smart home device, remembers what was said on the call, and defuses situation by suggesting that the woman didn't call them, the smart home device did when the man asked the question.
6. Journalist overhears and thinks he has a news for nerds story worthy of slashdot front page.
7. ....
8. Profit

Re:Won't be long now

[dargaud]

I tried it recently at a friend's house when I noticed he had Alexa. He matter of factly followed it with "Alexa, cancel order", which led me to believe it wasn't the 1st time.