Google hid a microphone in Nest devices, never told anyone about it

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All the tech companies have been under fire for the last year or so for not taking Customer Privacy seriously. While we have already seen Google, Facebook and Twitter take a stand in front of the Congress on how they plan to protect the consumer data, it looks like Google might come under the microscope again.

According to a new report, Google “unintentionally forgot” to mention the existence of a microphone on the Next Guard. The report mentioned that Nest users were unaware that the Nest Guard comes with a microphone as it was not mentioned anywhere including the website and the spec sheet. A Google Spokesperson said it was an error and it should have been mentioned on the spec sheet.

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.

– Google

The spokesperson also mentioned that the on-device microphone was never on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option. Moreover, Google stated that they added the microphone as a way to allow for future developments and to add more security features to the device through software updates.

While we don’t know if Google made a mistake or it was missed out on purpose, we certainly know that this will backfire.

Via: Business Insider

More about the topics: google, nest

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