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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

#491

Post by [deleted] »

kcdev wrote: post #415
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…

You said it yourself: smartphones are already capable of it. So what difference does it make if you add an Alexa or Google Home? At least those aren't going everywhere with you. This is the defeatist attitude, but this tech is probably here to stay. We just need to do our best to make sure companies do the right thing.

[deleted]

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

#492

Post by madrox »

_davebennett wrote: post #436
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 know I'm gonna be in the minority with this, but what if you really just don't care despite knowing the danger? I have a Google Home in my bedroom, and it's extremely convenient for controlling my lights. I'm aware of the privacy concerns with such a device, but out of all the things in the world that worries me it's just not far up my list to disregard the convenience. I imagine a lot of consumers might feel this…

I feel like this is the only sane response. To say there is no danger is naive. To say this is existential danger is...well...have you read the news lately?

Every day we are making choices about what risks we're willing to accept. In the scheme of things, this is novel but minor.

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

#493

Post by machello13 »

jeremyjh wrote: post #361
fluffything wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would people voluntarily do this in exchange for being able to ask for weather, play a playlist, add a todo and a few other parlor tricks. I don't really understand why the device needs to store my recording and send it over the internet. I would be willing to pay more for a device that guarantees that my recordings are deleted immediately.

Echo does this - only wake word phrases are sent to the internet - but it is not guaranteed by the hardware. Also your failed requests - where it recognized the wake word but not the request - are listened to by QA people. Those could easily be private conversations with an accidental wake word.

I'm pretty sure this is how all smart speakers work.

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

#494

Post by madrox »

Every time an article like this comes up on HN it's the exact same concerns, the exact same HN comments, and the exact same arguments. I don't feel like the conversation has moved on significantly since Alexa came out. It makes me wonder why articles like these keep getting upvoted and commented on with the same stuff. Is this tabs vs spaces for the privacy world?

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

#495

Post by ByThyGrace »

Law people of HN: say you went into someone else's home, someone who owns one of these devices, and recited, aloud, your own License Agreement, from start to finish, where you state that the speech following the terms agreed by the processor of your own spoken records must follow certain hard rules etc. (i.e. your run-of-the-mill ToS language), and then just behave normally.

Imagine Google or whichever tracking corporation's server parses your speech and turns it to text. Which then gets labeled, processed, fed back into other databases, etc.

The question is: Would it become binding at any point? Would it grant you any rights, produce any liability?

Edit: added one key aspect.

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

#497

Post by yummypaint »

Just wanted to point out that voice control doesnt have to involve audio from peoples homes being streamed over the internet. We already have the technology to do everything client side aside from the search request itself. You can bet companies have no interest in pursuing this though. The voice control vs privacy narrative is preferable to these companies because they can pretend there are no alternatives and keep collecting.

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

#498

Post by president »

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…

The thing is, the majority viewpoint always wins, whether they are right or wrong. If we had a well-educated and well-informed populace, people might make better decisions. Unfortunately, this is not the case and the situation is worsened with marketing and advertising from companies choosing revenue over morals.

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

#499

Post by hutzlibu »

nkrisc wrote: post #54
bilbo0s wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> corporations are just doing what they want while governments are asleep at the wheel. That assumes the governments aren't in on it. They probably want the data more than the corporations. I mean, you know, "security" and all.

The government itself doing the things these corporation do would generate loads of outrage. For whatever reason it's a lot more acceptable for a company to collect all this data so you can play music with your voice and then the government can secretly collect it all later if they wish.

The point is, that a corporation takes data only from their customers who consent to it (if they would read it).

The government would spie on potentielly everybody (and they do btw.)

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

#500

Post by vonmoltke »

205guy wrote: post #398
exclusiv wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A programmable keypad is nice. I have a Z-wave one which can notify my Smarthings hub which notifies me when it's locked or unlocked. The Nest thermostat allows me to control the heat remotely. These two things are great for rental properties. Guests often forget to lock the door, I have records of when guests or maintenance people are coming or going, I can adjust the heat to 55 when nobody is there which saves a lo…

It sounds like you have short-term rental properties, aka unregulated hotels, or more accurately regulation-skirting residential businesses. In normal rentals, guests are called tenants, and in most places tenants have all the same privacy rights as property owners. Therefore, a landlord having access to or retaining any information about door usage or audio-video of the property would likely be illegal. Perhaps a ca…

> It sounds like you have short-term rental properties, aka unregulated hotels, or more accurately regulation-skirting residential businesses.

There are regions where is is a regulated, perfectly-acceptable activity, and has been for longer than the founders of AirBnB have been alive.

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