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Google Apologizes for Failing to Disclose Microphone in Nest Guard

posted by martyb on Wednesday February 20 2019, @06:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the How-many-TLAs-knew-about-it? dept.

takyon writes:

Google admits error over hidden microphone

Google has acknowledged that it made an error in not disclosing that one of its home alarm products contained a microphone.

Product specifications for the Nest Guard, available since 2017, had made no mention of the listening device. But earlier this month, the firm said a software update would make Nest Guard voice-controlled. On Twitter, concerned Nest owners were told the microphone "has not been used up to this point". Business Insider was first to report the development.

The Nest Guard is one component in the Nest Secure range of home security products. The system includes various sensors that can be monitored remotely by the user. Nest Guard is an all-in-one alarm, keypad, and motion sensor but, despite being announced well over a year ago, the word "microphone" was only added to the product's specification this month. The change coincided with the announcement that it was now compatible with Google Assistant.

In response to criticism, Google said on Tuesday: "The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs. That was an error on our part." It added: "The microphone has never been on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option."

Also at The Verge and Forbes.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday February 20 2019, @07:40PM (2 children)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Wednesday February 20 2019, @07:40PM (#804156) Journal

    "The microphone has never been on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option.... as far as we know."

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by urza9814 on Wednesday February 20 2019, @08:08PM (1 child)

    by urza9814 (3954) on Wednesday February 20 2019, @08:08PM (#804179) Journal

    Either it has never been on or it's only on when requested by the user. They can't guarantee both.

    ...on second though, it's Google, they spy enough that they *could* plausibly say that it's only activated on request and no user has ever requested that yet...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 21 2019, @04:34PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 21 2019, @04:34PM (#804560)

      If Google activates the microphone for their own use, they are obviously themselves the user of the microphone, therefore they can rightfully say that the microphone is activated by the user.