Google Home smart speakers, the company dryly warns in a note buried deep on a support page, can “incorrectly” record their users even when they haven’t first said an activating wake phrase like “hey, Google.” It just so happens that, at least for a brief period of time this summer, those microphone-enabled devices were doing exactly that.
The company admitted Monday, following a report by Protocol, that it had updated an unspecified number of Google Assistant-enabled devices to respond to auditory cues beyond the user-specified wake phrase. Google told Protocol this was a mistake that was quickly fixed, but did not appear to address the larger privacy concerns that such a mistake signifies. After all, how are users supposed to trust a live microphone in their home if someone can remotely update it to be even more invasive without their knowledge? Read more…
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