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Google removes option to disable Nest cams' status light
No more stashing your Nest security cameras in the bushes to catch burglars unaware: Google informed users on Wednesday that it's removing the option to turn off the status light that indicates when your Nest camera is recording.
You can still dim the light that shows when Google's Nest, Dropcam, and Nest Hello cameras are on and sending video and audio to Nest, Google said, but you can't make it go away on new cameras. If the camera is on, it's going to tell people that it's on – with its green status light in Nest and Nest Home and the blue status light in Dropcam – in furtherance of Google's newest commitment to privacy.
Google introduced its new privacy commitment at its I/O 2019 developers conference in May, in order to explain how its connected home devices and services work.
The setting that enabled users to turn off the status light is being removed on all new cameras. When the cameras' live video is streamed from the Nest app, the status light will blink. The update will be done over-the-air for all Nest cams: Google's update notice said that the company was rolling out the changes as of Wednesday, 14 August 2019.
The change is a plus for the privacy-aware: say, people who are wary of their Airbnb hosts secretly filming them in the shower or bedroom.
On the other end of the spectrum, it's an outrage to some users who say they've spent big bucks on cameras that can stay hidden. One comment on Google's update notice called it "an absurd update and an invasion of my rights as a consumer" – more of a "post-purchase middle finger" to customers than a privacy plus.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Gaaark on Saturday August 17 2019, @02:28AM (17 children)
but can't you just duct tape over the light?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1) by hopdevil on Saturday August 17 2019, @02:33AM (7 children)
Or just simply remove the LED.
(Score: 2, Informative) by doke on Saturday August 17 2019, @03:19AM (6 children)
The LED is probably surface mounted to the PCB inside a glued case. It's easier to just put tape over the LED.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @03:42AM (5 children)
Opaque fingernail polish.
Learned that one from my daughter. She read something about iphone front cameras being hacked to spy on young girls, so she painted over the front lens with black polish. Looks a lot better than tape, and stays in place too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @05:20AM
Bluetack.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday August 17 2019, @05:38AM (3 children)
While I applaud your daughter's unusual awareness of privacy issues, I reckon a piece of tape would have been more clever - you know, for when she occasionally wants to take a selfie with her friends, or to maintain the iPhone's resale value.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday August 17 2019, @06:11AM
At least, I suspect that would be why she did it that way.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Informative) by dx3bydt3 on Saturday August 17 2019, @10:11AM (1 child)
The polish can be quickly removed with acetone, so no selfies, but there shouldn't be an impact on resale value.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @01:10PM
Doesn't affect the lens? Cause any problems?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday August 17 2019, @03:37AM (6 children)
Well, I just clicked on the link to TFA, and this image [wordpress.com] is at the top. (It's a link directly to the image file.)
If that's accurate, then obviously you can just tape over it. This has to be one of the silliest articles I've looked at in a while (and that's saying something).
(Score: 5, Interesting) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday August 17 2019, @03:46AM
I mean, I suppose it's good to disable an easy software option to disable the indicator light for those who might actually WANT to be aware of when it is on and/or streaming. The Nest ecosystem is already a security nightmare waiting to happen (as with most IoT devices), but it's probably better not to open the door to hackers by providing a ready-made spy option for them. At least they'll have to work a bit harder to make an exploit.
Whether you believe Google is monitoring you when the indicator light is off... well, that's a separate issue entirely that has to do with trusting your software provider.
But for anyone with physical access to the hardware, obviously they can just "disable" the light with a piece of tape. Duh. Note that Google's statement (linked in the summary) doesn't claim this is going to be any better for Airbnb customers who are afraid of being recorded or whatever -- that's just stupidity on the part of the author of TFA, not coming from Google's statement.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @05:07AM (4 children)
It also shows just how bad things have gotten with folks unable to even entertain the idea of modifying their things.
My first thought when I saw the summary was: "ok, but what about a small bit of black electrical tape".
Sadly, way too many consumers have been trained by the big-co's to simply accept whatever they are given, and into a no-no you are not allowed to do anything other than what we authorize mindset. This 'outrage' shows just how bad that dumbing down of the general populace has become.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 17 2019, @11:48AM
(Score: 5, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday August 17 2019, @12:31PM (1 child)
Indeed. When following the links to Google's statement and other official Google pages, I was surprised to see hundreds (yes, hundreds) of comments effectively saying, "You've ruined my device! It's useless now." Maybe 1 out of 50 comments was something like, "Well guys, just tape/paint over the light for most applications. Problem solved."
Mine too.
Well, I have to disagree about at least some of the outrage. First, there's the general principle that many companies are now acting like you never "own" devices your purchase. They can just push a software update at any time, and you have to live with the consequences. That's something many people argued in complaints, and I agree with them. If a device is sold with certain features, and then those features are remotely disabled after your purchase, that's bad. (I would argue that you were stupid enough to buy a Nest/Google product, but this is an issue well beyond Google products today.)
And I can imagine some scenarios where this new issue is a serious problem -- like someone who actually wants the camera to be visible (as a deterrent or whatever in a security camera), but now you've given potential thieves an easy way to know whether they are being monitored or not... and a piece of tape is a giveaway that the device will likely be going on and off, rather than continuously on. Or other scenarios, but consumers no longer have the choice over a device they purchased.
A more extreme example from my own experience about a device: about four years (?) ago -- right after the Kindle Fire from Amazon became really cheap -- I bought one for my young kid, thinking it was a cheap tablet, and if he broke it or it broke or whatever, no big deal. It had good features by that time for restricting kids' accounts, etc., restricting amount of time used per day, etc. (Which turned out to be problematic -- but that's another issue.)
Anyhow, he loved the thing. It was his first real electronic device that was HIS. He wanted to carry it everywhere and use it for lots of things. Then, six months or so after purchase, the thing suddenly reset without warning. I mean hard factory reset -- all of his games, all of his photos, all of his content gone. I hadn't enabled cloud backup, as I thought Amazon didn't need all of my son's info and pictures and such. So most of it was just GONE.
It took me a while to figure stuff out, but scanning Amazon forums, eventually I discovered that several people had the exact same issue happen at the same time -- all running Kindle Fires purchased in a certain date range, and all running the kids' software ("Freetime") app. Apparently, they hadn't tested some security update properly, and when they pushed it to all devices, those with the kids' software app had some sort of error that caused the whole device to do a factory reset.
My reaction was, WHAAAA?? Amazon has the ability to do a remote factory reset on my device without my permission, effectively destroying all of my data whenever they want?? Now I know this kind of crap can happen on a lot of devices, but I was rather shocked when this first happened. And my kid was really upset... ever since then, he's been nervous about electronic devices, which he thinks can make his stuff disappear at any time. (Probably good to be a little cautious, but this was more like terrorizing little kids.)
I don't recall for certain, but I'm pretty sure at this time there was no option to disable automatic security updates on the Kindle Fire either. I went on and modified my review of the device on Amazon immediately too, which led to immediate comments (from shills or Amazon fans) who didn't believe me. I told them to go to the Amazon product forums where at least half a dozen people had come out and posted with the exact same issue within the past few hours, but they refused to believe me.
I've never purchased another Amazon tablet again. My point is today sometimes you are FORCED to accept what the big companies give you, even long after you've purchased a device. THAT is a serious problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @01:17PM
Google feel the same way about all Android devices.
Scary, hey.
(Score: 2) by Chocolate on Sunday August 18 2019, @01:27PM
You are hereby served for violation of your agreement when you purchased this hardware not to modify it as clearly communicated in the TERMS AND CONDITIONS supplied with your product as a hyperlink printed on the back of the product packaging under the security seal tape.
Bit-choco-coin anyone?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @07:57AM
Absurd.
Yes, Google -- removing the option to control the LED for end users, is about privacy. Right. What a joke. Way to change the discussion. Asshats!
No .. Google YOU are the threat to privacy. Not the end user. So, removing the ability for the user to control a LED, which is controlled by SOFTWARE.. that doesn't help. What's needed is that all LEDs for microphones and cameras are HARDWIRED, irrevocably hardwired so that if the camera has power? If the mic is energized? BAM! The LED is on.
Otherwise, sure.. Google can remove the option to control the LED. But that is just done to make people THINK the LED has no software control, and to disassociate the thought of it from consumers minds. Because in reality?
Google can still record, whenever it wants, and keep that LED off.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday August 18 2019, @02:49AM
I imagine Google is targeting folks who want to point to their device and say - look, it is not recording.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @02:55AM (5 children)
"Google's newest commitment to privacy".
That had me rolling on the ground with laughter.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @03:23AM
We saw that. We will remember.
(Score: 5, Funny) by maxwell demon on Saturday August 17 2019, @07:07AM (2 children)
Well, Google's commitment to privacy is: "Nobody but you and us should have access to your private information, unless one of us explicitly grants it."
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @09:25PM
"Nobody but you and us should have access to your private information, unless one of us explicitly grants it."
Spoken in true businessese
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday August 25 2019, @12:48AM
FTFY
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @01:15PM
There is a simple answer here. Google doesn't know what 'privacy' is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @02:03PM (2 children)
My grandma saw this light turn on without warning and found out a camera was watching her to ensure she did not fall or get hurt. When she reached to move the camera she fell down the stairs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @10:14PM (1 child)
How much did you inherit?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @09:03AM
Just the camera.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @02:12PM (1 child)
The camera was being used as a baby monitor and suddenly started flashing which startled the baby. The baby couldn't fall back asleep and kept me up all night so I was late to work and got fired.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @10:22PM
At least your baby didn't have an epileptic seizure and die, like mine did.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 17 2019, @06:25PM (1 child)
https://www.infowars.com/watch/?video=5d57066757183d0012481a31 [infowars.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @09:06AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infowars [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @12:20AM
We should all still have the roll of tape we used to "turn off" the blinking time on our VCRs