The story is self explanatory.

Link

Google Home Mini Caught Spying on Users

Google Home Mini, the puck-like smart home device from the Alphabet-owned company, has a big problem.

Some Google Home Mini units have been secretly recording just about every sound they hear and transmitting all of that information back to Google. While it's unclear what happens to the recordings once they land at Google, the obvious privacy implications are enough to scare just about anyone.
According to Android Police, which earlier discovered the problem, Google Home Mini would randomly start recording everything going on in the room at a given time. And it appears that the problem is a glitch that causes affected units to think that they should be recording when they should not.
Google Home Mini, which was unveiled at the company's press event last week, is designed to wake when someone says "Hey Google" or "OK Google." You can also hold your finger down on the device and all the while, Google Home Mini will record what it hears.
From there, the recording is sent to Google's cloud servers, where the query can be interpreted. A response is then worked up and sent back. In most cases, that works just fine. However, it appears that the affected Google Home Mini units thought they were being pressed and should be recording everything.

....more at the link.

Why anyone would have one of these devices in their home is beyond me...and this goes for the Amazon and other varieties as well...

Alexa you can kiss my ass!

Seems like corp america and china are taking liberties with our privacy. siri, cortana, alexa, google. i'm paranoid about using consumer networked devices and so called smart home devices. especially cameras - no cameras connected to the webz for me.

as corporations become more interleaved with government, is 1984 really that far away?

Friday, October 6th - 4:32pm

To my surprise, the first reply came in 10 minutes later. They were looking into it. I replied with a few more details.

Friday, October 6th - 5:58pm

Google assured me that this was the first time they've heard of this issue and were really interested in swapping out my unit to examine it.

Friday, October 6th - 7:00pm

Google PR was on the way to my house to pick it up. Mind you, we're talking about a Friday night here. That's dedication! I wasn't home at the time, but by 9pm, the exchange was made. In fact, I was left with two replacement Google Home Minis for my trouble. I'm on to you, Google! (/s)

An engineer was driving up to Oakland to examine it that very night. It was clear how seriously they were treating the situation.

...

Sunday, October 8th

Further clarifications arrived. The Google Home Mini supports hotword activation through a long press on the touch panel. This method allows people to activate the Google Assistant without saying the hotword. On a very small number of Google Home Mini devices, Google is seeing the touch panel register “phantom” touch events.

In response, the updated software disables the long press to activate the Google Assistant feature. Once the Google Home Mini devices receive the updated software, all long press events (real or phantom) will be ignored and Google Assistant will not be invoked accidentally.

The company also let me know that they're in the process of building a long-term fix, whatever it may be. It's too early to say if they're going to be able to deal with "phantom" touch events entirely in software or if a recall for affected units will be in order.

...

From Artem of Android Police who found the problem..

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
Why anyone would have one of these devices in their home is beyond me...and this goes for the Amazon and other varieties as well...

Alexa you can kiss my ass!

What smlsig said.

I had an Alexa for about a week, then the novelty wore off and Amazon got it back.

RMD

But, but, it can help you order your favorite pizza 32seconds faster than normal, and it remembers what sort of toilet paper you like to buy, and you can ask it the weather. (gasp)

:eyeroll:

When hell freezes over. Same for internet capable cameras.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Seems like corp america and china are taking liberties with our privacy. siri, cortana, alexa, google. i'm paranoid about using consumer networked devices and so called smart home devices. especially cameras - no cameras connected to the webz for me.

as corporations become more interleaved with government, is 1984 really that far away?

Regarding cameras...do you have a smart phone or tablet?? Well you are already introducing the possibility of being spied on.

I have a friend who is in the FBI who commented to me how easy it was to monitor (spy) on people these days because they are already carrying the hardware needed to do the job...

My wife who is a hazardous waste disposal consultant is constantly Googling things about explosives and other nasty components and became so paranoid about this after listening to our friend that she has put black tape over all her electronic devices cameras and microphones....

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
Regarding cameras...do you have a smart phone or tablet?? Well you are already introducing the possibility of being spied on.

Apparently, this is the standard argument, because it appears in any thread on this subject, and it's an invalid argument each time it's introduced. This does not address the issue. Saying "Oh, you already have cameras around you" is not an argument.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Google Home Mini Caught Spying on Users

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
Regarding cameras...do you have a smart phone or tablet?? Well you are already introducing the possibility of being spied on.

I do. But I put cute stickers over them (PC and phone). I only take off the sticker on the phone if someone insists on using vid call. Then, I take off the sticker and re-enable the function on the phone. Otherwise, it's disabled and has a sticker.

Can things be hacked? Sure. But at least I've tried to turn things off as much as possible.

It's the same thought process as running faster than the guy next behind you when chased by a bear. Or encouraging a burglar to choose an easier car/house to break in to. Sure, I can get exposed. But I'll make it harder if possible.

Personal size faraday box will store small connected gadgets you want to use sometimes, like alexa.

Nope. And hell nope, with data encrypted by nope, covered by nope tape.

I have both the Google Home and the Amazon Echo.

No don't really care if they're spying on me. I operate under the assumption that there is no privacy anywhere.

If you are surprised by the idea that some devices are nefariously collecting data on you without your knowledge, then you are a step behind. This shit is chess, not checkers.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
I have both the Google Home and the Amazon Echo.

No don't really care if they're spying on me. I operate under the assumption that there is no privacy anywhere.

If you are surprised by the idea that some devices are nefariously collecting data on you without your knowledge, then you are a step behind. This shit is chess, not checkers.

Is this like posting "I eat whatever I want, I just exercise enough!" in a thread about diets and meal planning?

How can anyone complain about a box they install in their home that is designed to listen to conversations and provide data, assistance etc.

There isn't a "corporations are invading your privacy" issue, because once you make the decision to put one in your house thats your decision.

It's like blaming the gun maker for the gun owners actions...

Again, like gun control legislation - aspects may be inevitable - but not with my support...

The best one can hope for is that such trends have the unintended consequence of helping usher in a long overdue focus on privacy, rather than these thinly veiled and decidedly vapid "conveniences" whose primary focus is to help someone sell you some bullshit.