Google Didn’t Inform Consumers About Microphones Placed In Nest Security Systems
The nastiest type of microphone is a concealed one. Consumers were unaware in early February when the search giant declared Nest Secure, its home security system, would be capable of functioning as an AI-supported Google Assistant after the latest update. The company, in a blog post, said, “With a toggle within the Nest application, one can make the Secure as an always-hearing Assistant speaker.”
Until then, consumers did not know that Nest Secure had a built-in microphone at all. The company stated it had made a “mistake” in failing to mention the microphone in tech specs, as initially reported by Business Insider. Though some mentioned when the statement surfaced that the microphone was not supposed to be installed in the item, the search giant did not attend to it until recently. The Nest Secure is present on the shelves for almost 18 Months now.
A Google spokesperson, in a statement, said, “The on-device microphone was by no means meant to be a concealed and should have been mentioned in the tech specs. That was a blunder made at our end. The microphone has never been enabled and is only enabled when users explicitly active the alternative.”
However, several individuals were unsettled by the likelihood of Google having admission to homes without the acquaintance of customers. Worries around privacy practices have increased since it was found that Facebook had permitted developers to use users’ data and that data of around 87 Million users was compromised by Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy company.
On a similar note, in the past, the search giant had also come under fire for doubtful privacy practices. An inquiry in August by the Associated Press disclosed that Google had been clandestinely recording location data of the customers in Android phones, although they had opted out of that option.