• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Google employees are eavesdropping, even in your living room, VRT NWS has discovered

Chittagong

Gold Member

Not everyone is aware of the fact that everything you say to your Google smart speakers and your Google Assistant is being recorded and stored. But that is clearly stated in Google’s terms and conditions. And what people are certainly not aware of, simply because Google doesn’t mention it in its terms and conditions, is that Google employees can listen to excerpts from those recordings.

It is true that Google does not eavesdrop directly, but VRT NWS discovered that it is listening in. Or rather: that it lets people listen in. We let ordinary Flemish people hear some of their own recordings. ‘This is undeniably my own voice’, says one man, clearly surprised.

A couple from Waasmunster immediately recognise the voice of their son and their grandchild.

tenor_zpshiqeoylx.gif
 

All Hail C-Webb

Hailing from the Chill-Web
I assume that all companies are doing this. I think it's so prevalent, that trying to be cautious is just a waste of time. We're being filmed, we're being recorded, and it's only going to get worse.
 

jadedm17

Member
I mean.... 2019... Should be known by now right? I accepted this years ago when i bought ny first Amazon Echo. I was okay with the trade off : Im not doing anything important, listen to me sing to my dog i dont care.

I dont agree with it but it should hardly be a surprise to... Anyone, really anyone.
 
I hope Google doesn't hear me serenading them hoes. I'm going to be sooooo embarassed if they hear me singing. I'm gonna fuck you. SOFTLY. I'm gonna screw you gently.
 

Bootyful

Banned
Oh shit. I've done and said some pretty intense and kinky shit in the same room as my Google Home. I'm legitimately paranoid and I'm unplugging it immediately
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
i got an alert this morning that Zoom, the teleconferencing software we use at work, had an Apple security issue, a vulnerability that affected the camera. they advised to cover the camera with tape. i already do this so i was good. apparently they fixed it in an update but nonetheless, i don't trust cameras.

 
Last edited:

Chittagong

Gold Member
i got an alert this morning that Zoom, the teleconferencing software we use at work, had an Apple security issue, a vulnerability that affected the camera. they advised to cover the camera with tape. i already do this so i was good. apparently they fixed it in an update but nonetheless, i don't trust cameras.


Yeah this is really fucking bad.

Zoom is the first teleconf software in two decades that actually does the thing it is supposed to do, but it installing a stealthy, always on, vulnerable web server that doesn’t disappear when you remove the app is just... wild. We had several Mac OS and Zoom updates today as a result.

I think this is it, Mac needs to mandate sandboxed AppStore apps.
 

dyergram

Member
I was in Vegas a couple of weeks ago and me and my gf walked past an advert for the aquarium at the mirage. I jokingly said ‘oh I want to go there’ didn’t even say where. I opened my phone a few minutes later and the route was on my google maps screen I think there doing more than just listening through smart speakers.
 

DESTROYA

Member
Google's duty is to collect this data to help improve products
No, it’s to sell your personal info to the highest bidder so they can make money on ads.
Hopefully they do something good with all this collected data
Hahahaha.
NO , see above answe.
So if you say "I love beavers" into the smart speaker, will Google send you promo ads based on porn, or the animal?
Porn for sure if I had to guess your browser history.
I was in Vegas a couple of weeks ago and me and my gf walked past an advert for the aquarium at the mirage. I jokingly said ‘oh I want to go there’ didn’t even say where. I opened my phone a few minutes later and the route was on my google maps screen I think there doing more than just listening through smart speakers.
They do track you through your smart phone as fucked up as that sounds.
 

G-Bus

Banned
I'm in this weird spot where I don't really care if they listen in on me but at the same time I don't own these products because I know this shit goes on and I have no need for them.

Something about verbally asking a device stuff just weirds me out but I google everything.

Have a pixel 2 and I never, ever ask it shit. Find it rediculous when I'm at work and people are asking Siri stuff.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I'm in this weird spot where I don't really care if they listen in on me but at the same time I don't own these products because I know this shit goes on and I have no need for them.

Something about verbally asking a device stuff just weirds me out but I google everything.

Have a pixel 2 and I never, ever ask it shit. Find it rediculous when I'm at work and people are asking Siri stuff.
Same boat.

Only time I've spoken into a fancy gadget is Kinect...... Xbox On. Felt like an idiot.
 

caffeware

Banned
You keep telling me otherwise, but at some point the will have to start erasing shit, right?

I mean 24 hours surveillance of multiple devices of millions of people...
 
Last edited:

Tesseract

Banned
You keep telling me otherwise, but at some point the will have to start erasing shit, right?

I mean 24 hours surveillance of multiple devices of millions of people...

storage gets easier over time, so no

never

NEVER
 
Last edited:

jolof96

Member
Oh shit. I've done and said some pretty intense and kinky shit in the same room as my Google Home. I'm legitimately paranoid and I'm unplugging it immediately
some poor eavesdropper wont have anything to beat their meat too now haha
 
Top Bottom