aykay55

aykay55 t1_j2751m3 wrote

Reply to comment by MrTonyBoloney in Google Home speakers allowed hackers to snoop on conversations by chrisdh79

Thank you. I know well enough that it isn't listening 24/7, but I hadn't ever heard someone claim that the Google Home Mini physically cuts off access to the microphones when the switch is turned on. I'm happy to see Google built in this level of privacy to their device. Tbh, I was never really scared of smart speakers, I'm more suspicious of smart TVs that come with Alexa or Google Assistant support. Some of these TVs are already sold at a loss, and they don't have any physical shut-off switch for the microphones. And unplugging the TV is a physical chore that no one would bother doing. TVs continue to open their operating systems to third parties and some even offer access to the Play Store. And people don't usually prioritize updating their TVs to the latest software. So, that's a much bigger security hole for anyone that is concerned about being spied on than any smart speaker.

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aykay55 t1_j271qvn wrote

Reply to comment by beebog in Google Home speakers allowed hackers to snoop on conversations by chrisdh79

I think it’s reasonable to believe the only people hearing my requests is Google. And in this case, that is what is happening except the hacker reprogrammed my Google Home onto their account. The only thing that would change is that all my searches would be listed under the hacker’s account, giving the attacker access to my search history from that device alone and the voice recordings that are attached to the searches. If they’re lucky, they could maybe peek at what is playing on my Chromecast. They can’t actively listen whenever they want to. The article’s headline is incredibly misleading

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