Slashdot Mirror
Google Says the Built-in Microphone it Never Told Nest Users About Was 'Never Supposed To Be a Secret' (businessinsider.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: In early February, Google announced that its home security and alarm system Nest Secure would be getting an update. Users, the company said, could now enable its virtual-assistant technology, Google Assistant. The problem: Nest users didn't know a microphone 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 the company had made an "error." "The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs," the spokesperson said. "That was an error on our part."
Do you always dismantle everything you buy?
Just wait till people realize there's a camera in the nest thermostats. Or maybe everyone thinks it's magic that the thermostat turns the heat / air on miraculously right when you stop in front of it, and reach out your hand to touch it. Nope, shouldn't have doubted the holy NEST. It knows what to do before I tell it. Definitely not a camera inside watching for when I'm about to press a button.
Think im making it up? Try it. Stop in front of your nest thermostat,and reach towards it. See what happens.
"Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
You mean you have never searched behind your cable box IR filtered face using a digital camera? You know, to see the board mounted camera modules facing you TV consumers, that report which family members were watching the garbage on the screen? Like an IR snapshot every time the IR remote button is pressed, to log the one that did not like what was on, and what they changed it to? Why would they not be tracking how much income they are getting for the ads they see noone is watching, to determine the ratio of the swindle's profit from the ad buyers?
This built-in mike thing is only audio. Well, the sonar images of the room, and people within, are useful. Also the intel of whether or not competing voice assistants are being used, that can aid plans as well.