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Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

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Re: Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

#31

Post by sukilot »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #23
dsr_ wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We would all be surprised if it turns out that a giant corporation who sells you always-on networked microphones wasn't abusing it in any way, shape or form. Here's a slippery slope for you: 1. "OK Google, order pizza from Sal's." 2. "Broken glass detected in living room. Should I call police?" 3. "The baby has been crying for more than 60 minutes. Do you want assistance?" 4. "Shots fired. Calling 911 now." 2016-2020…

> Watching an unusually well-Foleyed action movie on a good sound system can probably fool any recognition system Google can jam into next year's $150 smart speaker. Sure, but pair that with "Shazam!" style song recognition and now it knows you're watching a movie, and what movie it is, and can more easily filter for false positives there, no?

Do you want to bet your life on whether someone found that feature idea exciting enough for a promotion project at work?

Even if the feature works perfectly, were still talking about (hypothetically, as this isn't a real feature yet) automatically summoning a platoon of people with the de facto legal right to kill you if they send danger which is exactly the reason they were called just because a potentially dangerous noise was heard

Re: Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

#32

Post by swebs »

sys_64738 wrote: post #29

This abuse was always likely to happen. We’ve yet to discover what secret subpoenas that get filed to eavesdrop on possible felons or other persons of interest. A wireless mic to the cops is not what you want in the house.

>A wireless mic to the cops is not what you want in the house.

Yeah, that belongs in your pocket.

Re: Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

#33

Post by fibers »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #21
rahulchowdhury wrote: post #6

I unplugged my Google Home Mini long back because of this unethical spying.

I have a big cognitive dissonance here of what led you to buy it in the first place? The gulf of knowledge or personal risk tolerance between those 2 stances is so vast that I can scarcely comprehend them being in 1 person. But, clearly they are so I'm obviously wrong.

because sometimes you might literally get the product for free when you buy a tv, same with amazon echos

Re: Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

#34

Post by sukilot »

dannyw wrote: post #17
rvz wrote: post #13

These findings of Google spyware is getting pretty boring. I feel sorry for whoever is Google's Chief Privacy Officer to defend all these privacy violations in their own products. They must be facing daily privacy investigations at this point. Another day another Google listening device article. Get ready to comment on the next one.

Google, without notice, intentionally started listening to something that wasn't a wake word (glass breaking). How is this 'pretty boring'?

It's an obvious enhancement to a home monitoring product users paid money for, specifically for this purpose.

https://www.blog.google/products/google-nest/5-things-know-a...

Google added smoke alarm sound detection to a product that users bought specifically for "smart" smoke alarms and "smart" audiovideo recording of their home

Re: Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

#35

Post by pickledcods »

dsr_ wrote: post #5
polote wrote: post #3

How could people on HN be surprised about that kind of thing ?

We would all be surprised if it turns out that a giant corporation who sells you always-on networked microphones wasn't abusing it in any way, shape or form. Here's a slippery slope for you: 1. "OK Google, order pizza from Sal's." 2. "Broken glass detected in living room. Should I call police?" 3. "The baby has been crying for more than 60 minutes. Do you want assistance?" 4. "Shots fired. Calling 911 now." 2016-2020…

5. "Your kids are having sex, Shall I ask if they are using a condom?"

Re: Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

#36

Post by paulcole »

sukilot wrote: post #27
paulcole wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are plenty of horrible intermediate steps which could happen I just don’t believe any of these are particularly horrible when considered in the context of the assorted horrors of the world today.

Does the existence of the worst thing make the less bad things not matter? Then I could solve all your worries save one by stabbing you in the neck. But I don't think that's a good deal.

You’re close.

The existence of the worse things makes the less bad things matter less.

Re: Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

#37

Post by cameronbrown »

sukilot wrote: post #28
paulcole wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course I can imagine those problems! Those problems are brought up literally every time I mention that in-home speakers are not the end-of-the-world-nightmare-scenario so many people treat them as. I just don’t particularly care. Also if someone wants to cut out the middleman and buy my personal conversations directly, feel free to reach out. Great value! Last night I talked about weed and Top Chef!

Enjoy your privilege of not being interesting or important enough to be the target of criminal activity or government opppression. Millions of people aren't so lucky, and they deserve empathy as they work to build a better world for you to carelessly enjoy.

How is other people's lives their responsibility?

Re: Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

#38

Post by Johnyma22 »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #18
popeathlete wrote: post #7

One company controlling all these electronics in my house. How do people not find that disturbing?

What bothers you more; "one", or this particular company?

For me; both.

"one" because it is too much of a situation of "all of your eggs in one basket". I understand why people heavily invest in a specific ecosystem but I feel it's short-termism. I would be open to the argument however that tech moves so quickly that short-termism doesn't really apply to most consumer products.

"particular company" because Google has been a bad actor in all of the projects I have personally been involved with where they have been involved. This is purely a personal anecdote and YMMV (and probably does). I am sure I am an exception with this opinion.

Re: Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

#39

Post by Waterluvian »

paul_f wrote: post #16

There is a big difference between smoke alarm detection built into the wake-up-word circuitry, versus every sound sent to Google's servers for analysis. I am not bothered by the former, but would be aghast at the latter. Does anyone know for sure?

What does it matter? The bottom line is that once there’s microphones in your home, Google just has to wait out the normalization of deviance until nobody’s surprised or upset that they transfer everything to their servers for analysis.

If they don’t today, they will one day. They don’t have a choice on the matter because it’s a money maker.

Re: Google speakers are listening to more than just voice commands

#40

Post by secabeen »

paul_f wrote: post #16

There is a big difference between smoke alarm detection built into the wake-up-word circuitry, versus every sound sent to Google's servers for analysis. I am not bothered by the former, but would be aghast at the latter. Does anyone know for sure?

Now that the feature is disabled, it's hard to know. Once the feature is enabled, it's pretty easy to tell by looking at the network traffic the device generates. Sending every sound to google is going to be obvious.
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