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Nest Secure Has an Unlisted, Disabled Microphone (androidauthority.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Android Authority: Owners of the Nest Secure alarm system have been able to use voice commands to control their home security through Google Assistant for a while now. However, to issue those commands, they needed a separate Google Assistant-powered device, like a smartphone or a Google Home smart speaker. The reason for this limitation has always seemed straightforward: according to the official tech specs, there's no onboard microphone in the Nest Secure system. However, Google just informed us that it is right now rolling out Assistant functionality to all Nest Secure devices via a software update. That's right: if you currently own a Nest Secure, you will be able to use it as a Google Home very soon. That means somewhere in the Nest Guard -- the keypad base station of the Nest Secure -- there might be a microphone we didn't know existed. Either that or your voice commands are going to be heard by another product (like your phone, maybe) but Assistant's output will now come from the Nest Guard, if you happen to be in the range of that device. UPDATE: Google has issued a statement to Android Authority confirming the built-in microphone in the Nest Guard base system that's not listed on the official spec sheet at Nest's site. The microphone has been in an inactive state since the release of the Nest Secure, Google says. This unlisted mic is how the Nest Guard will be able to operate as a pseudo-Google Home with just a software update.
look, i just want a warm living room when i come home from work
can we fuck off with this creeping and creepy featuritis?
id hate to think some company would install a secret microphone in peoples home and then also secretly work with the chinese government or something like that
Permit me to say: LOL
I am shocked, shocked I say. ;)
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
I will not buy a TV with a video camera.
I'd be furious if I found out my TV had one, that only needed a software update to activate.
I'm putting my old mercury bulb thermostat back in.
Have gnu, will travel.
Is how many other devices have clandestine microphones unbeknownst to the owners?
How can you trust anything from any of these tech companies. They all spy on you.
Disabled or "disabled"?
so I wonder how many other google products have hidden microphones??? what about their mesh router?
Imagine a girlfriend? This is slashdot
Google announced that, going forward, the thermostat will be called the:
Nest “Secure” ;-)
#DeleteChrome
Ads. Tracking ads. Voice prints of known users talking about products and services.
Got a dog? Voice prints of new people who are friends. The words and terms they use.
The smart device is sold as a new product and service ready to respond and that is always on in the background.
A computer feels like traditional product that is used when really needed.
24/7 ads vs a few hours of web browsing.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
that's how they got nixon!
Slashdotters need to learn and realize that the average consumer - read the vast vast majority of people - don't give a flying-rat-fuck about security or privacy. They care about shiny new toys and personal convenience and they do not care what the price.
These major services/vendors have figured it out. They understand that they can do whatever the fuck they want, so long as it's convenient or shiny new for the end user. The end user/consumers gleefully hand over their money, their security, and their privacy to any and all of these companies for shiny new or convenient.
You people worrying about microphones listening in, cameras recording activities, big data tracking your every fucking activity on a global scale, you're very much in the minority. The MASSIVE majority don't just fail to understand your odd and suspicious concerns, they are angered by your belligerent resistance to devices and services such as completely unnecessary $200 thermostats that track the consumer's habits, or Smart TVs that track viewership, feed targeted ads, and listen in on household conversations.
To the rest of the world, you're a nutter deserving of scorn, ridicule, and ostracization.
Tech specs, by their very nature, must list every major feature present. That list _must_ be complete. Anything major not listed must be absent. And the ability to record audio (even is "disabled" in software) is obviously a major feature in a device you put in your home. Also obviously, they do not list everything that is missing as that would be infeasible. For example, this device likely does not contain an ice-cream machine or a toilet roll holder either. Would you also expect that to be listed as absent?
Do you see how wrong your statement is?
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Just expect that camera to be cleverly hidden in the future.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Oh, bullshit. The microphone isn't a feature until it starts being used. It's not uncommon for devices to have components which the engineers think might be useful in the future, but never are.
For instance every (?) Broadcom based cellphone SoC supports FM radio functionality, but only those manufacturers who enable it list "FM radio" as a feature.
If they'd listed a microphone, people have started complaining that they couldn't use it.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
The microphone is a feature as soon as it can be activated by software. How that activation happens is immaterial. It changes the status of the device to "listening device". Your SoC example is deeply flawed.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
dubious use of "win" here.
If you buy a TV that has WiFi, block the MAC; if it has wired, just don't connect it.
I have an old WD box for Netflix, which has neither camera nor microphone.
You can't buy a good 4k display that does not have a microphone. I said I wouldn't buy a display with a mic or camera, but I did. I just never plug an ethernet cable into it, and my wifi is white-listed to omit the display.
just a reminder: ALL sound transducers, speakers and mics, do double duty. 50 years ago when sennheiser debuted their legendary 414s, they introduced headphone drivers to the world that were essentially microphones repurposed as tiny on-the-ear lightweight speakers and personal sound reproduction would never be the same. before long there wasn't a radio station or recording studio without the lightweight little hi fidelity wonders. and the reverse is also true. the "regular" consumer speaker products installed in your laptops, tablets, internet radios and smart tvs make dandy microphones and are often used as such by hobbyists and modifiers. if somebody is clever enough and is motivated enough, they can listen in on you through your supposedly micless gear via your speakers, with transmissibility approaching microphones, because that's what they essentially are.
- js.
Microphones and the respective chips are so inexpensive, small, and low power now: that there's no reason not to include them
on every device for possible future capability (or covert data gathering capability).
If unused by the product... it will just be unlisted on the spec sheet, and not software enabled.
Expect pretty soon: even simple appliances like the Smoke Detectors in every room, Electric Blankets, Vibrators, Light Switches, Wall Outlets, Toilets, Showers, Bathtubs, Faucets, Refrigerators, Microwaves, Coffee Pots, Dishwashers, Washing machines, Ovens, Stoves, etc... to all include a tiny logic board, wireless internet capability, and a little microphone and speaker: maybe eventually a tiny little camera to go with the microphone.
Pretty much nobody is going to do anything about this. There is no will among regulators to do anything about this. Don't blame the Republicans. If the Democrats were in control it would be no different. Or perhaps blame them both. It won't get you anything, but you can feel justified they're all slimeballs.
If a lawyer can make a class action lawsuit out of this, perhaps something will happen. This system came out about a year and a half ago. I didn't really see it in stores until last year. How many units have they sold? I've read that you can do a class action with as little as 40 people. Nest claims to have sold 11 million items, but I would be surprised if more than tens of thousands Nest Secures have been sold. It runs about $300. So that's like what $3 million buck ber 10,000 consumers in play? Not counting penalties. Is that enough for a set of high priced lawyers to take them to court for a protracted legal battle? I don't think so, but what do i know?