Google says Nest’s built-in mic not listed in specs was not meant to be secret

Post by dpark » Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 4:02 PM UTC

vegardx wrote: post #116

xyzzy123 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah so the nest protect is, when you look at it objectively, a ceiling mounted general purpose remote sensing package. It’s basically only lacking a wide angle camera and I suspect that’s because they figured it would cross too far into “creepy” for it to be saleable. It seems to me like a team sat for a while, looked at all the possible ways they could get people to mount a package like this in every room and settl…

They don't have to be connected to a network in order to work. The will even happily do self-check without network access - something I realized when I wanted to mute a self-check only to find out that I had done some network changes. Had to use a schtick, like in the old days. Given that these devices are battery powered and meant to last for years on a single charge you can imagine how often they actually connect t…

Post by maximente » Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 4:08 PM UTC

illumin8 wrote: post #185

userbinator wrote: post #110

Having worked at large companies before, I'm almost certain that more than one person working on the product raised the point "this has a microphone, why isn't it documented?" or "this has privacy implications", but was silenced. (Or it could be that everyone working at Google has been carefully chosen to not have such concerns; I do get that feeling sometimes too.)

Contrast this to Amazon: during design of the original Echo at Lab126, an engineering discussion took place where they determined that implementing the mute function in software would be less expensive in terms of component requirements than implementing a physical disconnect of the mic circuit. The engineering team refused to take the less expensive route, and insisted that the mute button physically disconnect the…

Post by detaro » Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 4:09 PM UTC

merb wrote: post #80

est31 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The renter did not have the chance to buy the fire alarm, read it again. Instead, the renter offered it but the landlord refused.

Read it again. The landlord refused to buy it, not that the renter could not use it: > 1. Der Beschwerdeführer wurde von der Vermieterin (im Folgenden: Klägerin) seiner - in einem Mehrfamilienhaus gelegenen - Wohnung auf Duldung des Einbaus von Rauchwarnmeldern in Anspruch genommen. Er lehnte das von der Klägerin ausgesuchte Gerät ab, weil es nicht lediglich dem Brandschutz diene, sondern mittels Ultraschallsensoren…

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 4:12 PM UTC

CodeSheikh wrote: post #174

balabaster wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or was "yes, yes, we'll add a story to the backlog to add it to the specs" and it just flat out got forgotten. I've seen this happen so many times where I've been the one to raise the issue and because I've passed it off, I've forgotten about it only to circle back around 2 months later when someone says "Oh, we need to do this" and I say "I raised this 2 months ago, I thought X had put it in the backlog." And when y…

I am sorry but I do not buy this "added to backlog and forgot" theory, especially for a resources-packed company like Google. Are you implying that everyone from PM to devs to QA all ignored the microphone sitting in there? All electronics needs to be compliance tested at a gov labs in Northeast (Baltimore area) because of electromagnetic signature since Nest devices have WiFi. Are you saying even they forgot to brin…

Post by bagacrap » Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 4:15 PM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #110

Having worked at large companies before, I'm almost certain that more than one person working on the product raised the point "this has a microphone, why isn't it documented?" or "this has privacy implications", but was silenced. (Or it could be that everyone working at Google has been carefully chosen to not have such concerns; I do get that feeling sometimes too.)