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Google chief: I'd disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

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Re: Google chief: I'd disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

#231

Post by mrexroad »

Santosh83 wrote: post #216
jachee wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The in-universe answer from Star Trek is that there's no more capitalism in their post-scarcity society.

While the tech seems to be catching up in certain areas (if not the FTL drive), socially we're nowhere near what was depicted in Star Trek. It wasn't just post-capitalism but post-money. People no longer had to work for basic necessities. That is almost an unimaginably different setup to what humanity has always been used to. There's also a noticeable lack of crime and corruption, again something humans will have to…

Don’t forget, that in Star Trek, there’s a post-apocalyptic period waiting for us before the post-capitalism times...

Re: Google chief: I'd disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

#233

Post by mceachen »

bonestamp2 wrote: post #189
XJ6 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All "big tech" are at it, I tried to go to "My Pictures" the other day and microsoft asked me to run my pictures through facial recognition. They said that by consenting I was asserting I had the consent of anyone who appeared in any of my photos or might appear in future which is insane to ask of anyone, no-one can really give that third party consent. Then when I refused they showed me a nag screen which didn't hav…

Side question, are you British? I'm asking because I've just read "hoover up" for the second time in my life and both were in the past week and although I understand the meaning of the phrase and I can guess why it came about, I'm trying to understand where it came from geographically.

That's in my vernacular, but I blame my Proudly British Grandpa.

Re: Google chief: I'd disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

#234

Post by evross »

chenning wrote: post #192

Dumb question, but why are people so surprised by this? Can you honestly say at this point in the game that you had no idea this was happening or that this is news to you?

One simple answer is that marketing (a.k.a. thought manipulation) works. Propaganda works. What's the advertisement/marketing spending for all these surveillance companies' products in the past 10 years? And, in comparison, what about the advertising spending for consumer awareness of privacy respect and personal information security? Combine that lopsided-ness with the general person's lack of technical/surveillance education and it's more understandable why people aren't rejecting these companies' creepy behaviour.

Re: Google chief: I'd disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

#235

Post by zenography »

auiya wrote: post #128
tssva wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are most likely asking because the main competitor to Android devices also has an always listening assistant.

Capability, yes. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't believe it's enabled by default?

Siri has been enabled by default since iOS 9[0].

[0] http://ios9news.net/setup-hey-siri/

Re: Google chief: I'd disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

#236

Post by sorenn111 »

BlueTemplar wrote: post #185
SamBam wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see anything in the parent comment that says this is a Google-only issue. Also, the Netflix and Amazon examples don't seem to be in the same category, to me. Every time you interact with Netflix and Amazon, you are doing so deliberately. You are choosing exactly what to give them. You can easily pick another service. Always-on listening devices, on the other hand, are taking data that you did not choose to gi…

Amazon is the only one of the GAFAMs that it's not practical to boycott : boycotting Amazon Web Services breaks a large part of the Web.

May I say that I love your use of GAFAM. I always thought FAANG was silly and Netflix was not like the others and was included just to make a good acronym

Re: Google chief: I'd disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

#237

Post by brewdad »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #205
nvrspyx wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I always do when this is suggested, I recommend using “!s” for Startpage instead of “!g” for Google. Similar to DDG, Startpage provides results in a privacy respecting way, but it uses Google instead of Bing (and Oath), which DDG uses. There’s a common misconception amongst some that using !g on DDG is private, but it’s just a redirect, so Google can gather information from that search. Using !s as the fallback in…

I don't understand the business model of Startpage. They pay Google for using their search engine. Their revenue comes from non-personalised advertising. So that means either Startpage has higher ad margins than Google or Google is selling services to Startpage below their own search margins or Startpage has some other source of funds to subsidise the search engine.

They do have a freemium mail offering

https://www.startmail.com/en/

I have no idea how much revenue this may bring in but it can't be much since I don't think I've ever seen it recommended in an Ask HN thread.

Re: Google chief: I'd disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

#238

Post by froindt »

Terretta wrote: post #71
XJ6 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All "big tech" are at it, I tried to go to "My Pictures" the other day and microsoft asked me to run my pictures through facial recognition. They said that by consenting I was asserting I had the consent of anyone who appeared in any of my photos or might appear in future which is insane to ask of anyone, no-one can really give that third party consent. Then when I refused they showed me a nag screen which didn't hav…

Not all big tech are at it. The reason you hear a global sigh that “my battery life is terrible!” at every major iOS release, is the photo face to people clustering is done entirely on-device, and which photos are in the cluster is not shared across devices through iCloud. There are several such features where Apple has made life difficult for themselves and the UX a little less seamless for users, in service of not…

I'm not an iOS user. Is there a reason the clustering can't be done while charging? Does it simply take longer than a charge cycle if a person has thousands of photos?

Re: Google chief: I'd disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

#239

Post by brewdad »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #105
prepend wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has implemented this asshole design/nagware in many products to push unnecessary to me and invasive data collection or functionality I want won’t be available. For example, their maps app on iOS won’t save locations for me unless I sign in an enable web history tracking. I get prompted every time I try to save a pin as well as every once in a while I’m case I change my mind. It’s a free app and it’s Google’s p…

Have yo tried maps.me on IOS? I can't speak for their privacy practices, but it has the bifg advantage of letting you download maps to use them off-line.

Maps.me is my go to app when traveling in a foreign country where I may not have cell service. At home, in my car, I often need traffic info more than I need to know how to reach my destination. Is there a privacy respecting app that can deliver that?

Re: Google chief: I'd disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

#240

Post by braythwayt »

chenning wrote: post #211
saluki wrote: post #115

I was a huge Google Fan but this is becoming lunacy. I understood trading some data and privacy for great search results, maps and free quality email. But people willingly bringing always on listening devices in to their homes (beyond what smartphones are already capable of) I just can't comprehend it. Why would people voluntarily do this in exchange for being able to ask for weather, play a playlist, add a todo and…

I don't think this is just a Google issue. Osterloh just happened to be the first one to come right out and say, yeah, maybe you should tell your guests. Personally, I thought the bigger news (insult) was when he said, "Gosh, I haven't thought about this before in quite this way." Give me a break. You knew it. I knew it. We all knew it. Maybe the right thing to do is have the device recognize there's an unknown voice…

> Gosh, I haven't thought about this before in quite this way

Imagine if I made a self-driving car. Imagine if, in the rain, it simply slowed down and stopped right where it was, even in the middle of the freeway.

Now imagine that when asked about whether this was dangerous and ought to be disclosed to customers, the VP of Engineering said, "Gosh, I haven't thought about this before in quite this way."

We'd all say the VP was either lying, or was dangerously incompetent and was running a dysfunctional engineering group.

I don't need to get into a long conversation about whether this is malice or incompetence: It's unacceptable either way with self-driving cars to claim to have not thought about safety, and in the case of privacy and disclosure of recordings in my home, it's unacceptable either way to claim to have not thought about it.

This company is rotten from head to toe, and so is the system of incentives that lead companies like Google and Facebook to flout all standards of responsibility.

How can someone say something like this and still have their job at 5pm PST? How can Zuck say time and time again, "Sorry, we'll do better next time, by the way, political ads can lie," and there are no serious consequences?

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