Posted on 10/11/2017 9:32:16 AM PDT by markomalley
Intelligent assistant platforms like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant could be the next great frontier in computer interface, but there are bound to be some bumps along the way before we reach a Star Trek-style future. For example, Android Police founder Artem Russakovskii discovered a hardware defect in the upcoming Google Home Mini that caused the device to record almost all nearby audio and upload it directly to Google. That’s a pretty severe privacy violation, but Google says it’s pushing out an update to prevent it from happening again.
The Google Home Mini is a small puck-shaped speaker that lets you interact with Google Assistant. This voice control platform debuted last year on the Pixel and the regular Google Home. The Home Mini costs a mere $50, though, and includes almost all the features of the larger Home. The idea is that you can say “OK Google” or “Hey Google” whenever you’re near the device to begin issuing commands to smart home devices and asking questions. However, there’s also a touch-sensitive button on the top that can initiate a voice command, and this is apparently the problem.
Russakovskii noticed his review unit waking itself up quite frequently, as indicated by the lights on top. Google’s online account security and privacy tools include an activity timeline that can be filtered to specific products and services, and Android Police confirmed that the Home Mini was indeed uploading thousands of audio snippets to Google’s servers as if they were user commands. Of course, none of them returned valid responses from Assistant as they were not valid commands. Every single one was still accessible in Russakovskii’s Google settings, though.
(Excerpt) Read more at extremetech.com ...
“It’s not a bug, it’s an undocumented feature.”
I don’t have any of those yet, and like pretty much everyone where I work, I have tape over the camera on my laptop.
I have blocked out the camera on my smart TV as well.
And they thought I was the crazy one when I told them my cell phone and microwave oven were conspiring against me
The defect was someone found out.....
KYPD
True.
Its the special Deplorables model, availabke on request by the DNC.
I work in cyber security with the majority of my customers being financial institutions. It is our standard recommendation that no voice activated devices be allowed in the data center, general work location, or even the homes of executives.
Next they will become witnesses testifying in court cases.
This is a “software bug”, alright.
If anyone thinks this to be an “error”, then they are certainly delusional.
The only real “error” in their eyes is that they got caught.
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