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Google Drops Binary Code into Chromium for Linux

posted by janrinok on Friday June 19 2015, @11:56PM   
from the I-forget,-who-are-the-good-guys-now? dept.

Kunasou writes:

Google added to Chromium 43.x a new add-on called "Chrome Hotword Shared Module" without source code. At first run, it is automatically downloaded and installed without any prompt. After this installation [it] is only available at chrome://voicesearch/ and is not shown in the extensions menu and by default the user is not able to disable or uninstall it. This add-on can record audio any time since is linked to the Ok Google feature ( https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2940021?hl=en [support.google.com] ).

Sources: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=500922 and http://www.ghacks.net/2015/06/19/googles-in-hot-water-after-dropping-binary-code-in-chromium-for-linux/

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Original Submission

• Re:Bye Re:Bye (Score: 5, Interesting) by K_benzoate on Saturday June 20 2015, @01:42AM

  by K_benzoate (5036) on Saturday June 20 2015, @01:42AM (#198512)

  Consider Midori [midori-browser.org]. It's gotten very nice. Very small extension ecosystem but has most of the important features like script blocking, cookie control, content filtering. No Lastpass though, but I might be reconsidering my use of that soon...

  --
  Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.

  Parent

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+3
  Interesting=2, Informative=1, Total=3
  Extra 'Interesting' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		5

• Don't encourage cannibal savages (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2015, @04:56AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2015, @04:56AM (#198545)

  Those people like to cook and eat Japanese.

  Parent