Ok Google, eavesdrop on me. Google employees listening to Google Home recordings

[79wjd]

3 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Imagine being so drained out from work that you cannot flip a light switch anymore. Maybe instead of investing into dumb devices, how about changing a job which is clearly killing you... Also love your "think of the children, otherwise you have nothing to hide" attitude...

Because getting a better job is easy.

 

Imagine being so closed minded that you can't possibly imagine someone having different priorities than yourself.

[RejZoR]

Just now, 79wjd said:

Because getting a better job is easy.

 

Imagine being so closed minded that you can't possibly imagine someone having different priorities than yourself.

About fucking light switches. LIGHT FREAKING SWITCHES! Coz they are hard shit to operate.

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, RejZoR said:

About fucking light switches. LIGHT FREAKING SWITCHES! Coz they are hard shit to operate.

Some people are so lazy that they'd rather invite the Gestapo into their house than burn a calorie.

[79wjd]

6 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

About fucking light switches. LIGHT FREAKING SWITCHES! Coz they are hard shit to operate.

Hands are full.

Don't want to get up to switch lights on/off.

Are leaving and don't want to walk through every room to make sure lights are off.

Want to cycle lights when not home.

 

And that's still only considering that it's only good for controlling lights, which it's not. 

 

Grow up. There are plenty of benefits and reasons why people might want something like a Google Home/Alexa. Many of which are no less ridiculous than half the tech conveniences that are otherwise commonplace. Biometrics on phones, assistants on phones, smartwatches, wireless headphones, high end headphones, high end phones, the list goes on forever.

[RejZoR]

Elbow flick of a switch. Has worked for whole century. Guess what, still works. Lights near bed are also a thing. Light switched next to doors. The highest tech shit ever. It's why room design that's worth anything has light switches next to doors. And you can have more switches for one light. Crazy, I know. Cycling lights is silly. Whoever is planning on robbing you ain't dumb, they have all things figured out and some auto lights won't fool them. Coz lets face it, they have all the time in the world to monitor you where you have a job to worry about...

[79wjd]

9 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Elbow flick of a switch. Has worked for whole century. Guess what, still works. Lights near bed are also a thing. Light switched next to doors. The highest tech shit ever. It's why room design that's worth anything has light switches next to doors. And you can have more switches for one light. Crazy, I know. Cycling lights is silly. Whoever is planning on robbing you ain't dumb, they have all things figured out and some auto lights won't fool them. Coz lets face it, they have all the time in the world to monitor you where you have a job to worry about...

You know what worked for millennia? Everything without electricity. Let's go back to that because extra conveniences are a waste of time, resources, money, and personal security.

 

Most common thieves are absolutely incompetent.

 

Not to mention that again, IT'S NOT JUST LIGHTS. But, you know who doesn't have full control over the position of light switches? Almost everyone that rents their house/apartment. Not to mention those that bought houses/apartments and would rather buy a $20 home assistant than spend a few hundred dollars replacing light switches and/or dealing with the hassle of an electrician, because most people aren't going to change their own switches.

[RejZoR]

1 minute ago, 79wjd said:

You know what worked for millennia? Everything without electricity. Let's go back to that because extra conveniences are a waste of time, resources, money, and personal security.

 

Most common thieves are absolutely incompetent.

There is a balance between convenience and stupidity. Handing over your entire life to some mega corporation because it's too hard to flip a god damn light switch falls under utter and absolute idiocy.

[Blademaster91]

10 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Elbow flick of a switch. Has worked for whole century. Guess what, still works. Lights near bed are also a thing. Light switched next to doors. The highest tech shit ever. It's why room design that's worth anything has light switches next to doors. And you can have more switches for one light. Crazy, I know. Cycling lights is silly. Whoever is planning on robbing you ain't dumb, they have all things figured out and some auto lights won't fool them. Coz lets face it, they have all the time in the world to monitor you where you have a job to worry about...

Yeah people are acting as if its impossible to manage lights around the house without a smart device, like turn off lights in a room you aren't using? Or have a lamp near the sofa or bed? Also having lights on a timer to turn on or off doesn't require buying a smart assistant.  I'd much rather get up and go a few feet to turn on/off the light than willingly sacrifice having any having any security or privacy at home with a device that is constantly listening.

[79wjd]

8 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

There is a balance between convenience and stupidity. Handing over your entire life to some mega corporation because it's too hard to flip a god damn light switch falls under utter and absolute idiocy.

Well if you're using a smartphone, or any Google service, than you're already handing over far more useful information.

 

Having the personal opinion that a smart assistant isn't worth the trade off TO YOU is fine. That doesn't mean others can't make a ln educated decision that differs from yours.

[appleache]

7 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

Yeah people are acting as if its impossible to manage lights around the house without a smart device, like turn off lights in a room you aren't using? Or have a lamp near the sofa or bed? Also having lights on a timer to turn on or off doesn't require buying a smart assistant.  I'd much rather get up and go a few feet to turn on/off the light than willingly sacrifice having any having any security or privacy at home with a device that is constantly listening.

there used to be led ceiling light with ir remote, but i guess now every company know they can just get more Data from you and sell it.

[RejZoR]

Just now, Blademaster91 said:

Yeah people are acting as if its impossible to manage lights around the house without a smart device, like turn off lights in a room you aren't using? Or have a lamp near the sofa or bed? Also having lights on a timer to turn on or off doesn't require buying a smart assistant.  I'd much rather get up and go a few feet to turn on/off the light than willingly sacrifice having any having any security or privacy at home with a device that is constantly listening.

Remember clapping to turn on/off lights? One would expect this to be in every home by now coz I've been seeing that shit in movies for decades. And we still have regular switches. Coz they just work so well and reliably with zero privacy concerns.

[RejZoR]

1 minute ago, 79wjd said:

Well if you're using a smartphone, or any Google service, than you're already handing over far more useful information.

 

Having the personal opinion that a smart assistant isn't worth the trade off TO YOU is fine. That doesn't mean others can't make a ln educated decision that differs from yours.

I got rid of EVERYTHING Google because of this very reason. I'm now entirely Google free.

[appleache]

Just now, RejZoR said:

Remember clapping to turn on/off lights? One would expect this to be in every home by now coz I've been seeing that shit in movies for decades. And we still have regular switches. Coz they just work so well and reliably with zero privacy concerns.

wasn't linus tested one years ago, those thing are really not reliable, that is why it never got popular 

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, appleache said:

wasn't linus tested one years ago, those thing are really not reliable, that is why it never got popular 

Not to mention it's not easy to integrate into an existing system (or it makes less sense than smart control bulbs) and doesn't give you much fine grained control.

[appleache]

All hail ebay I guess, my parents back in china has similar kind, actually pretty useful 

 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F401809579036

[Commodus]

11 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Then you should talk to the idiot who installed switched anywhere but next to doors and bed...

You can't ensure that every light switch is perfectly placed, you know that, right?  And that you probably won't have every light in a given room linked to a switch?  There's these radical things called desk lamps and coffee table lamps, you ought to check them out.

 

Look, it's pretty obvious that you're trying to act like an expert on the subject without any actual experience.  I have smart lights; I find them extremely handy.  If you really want to make pronouncements on whether or not they're useful, go grab a Hue kit and a smart speaker and let me know what you think after you've used them for a while.

[RejZoR]

46 minutes ago, Commodus said:

You can't ensure that every light switch is perfectly placed, you know that, right?  And that you probably won't have every light in a given room linked to a switch?  There's these radical things called desk lamps and coffee table lamps, you ought to check them out.

 

Look, it's pretty obvious that you're trying to act like an expert on the subject without any actual experience.  I have smart lights; I find them extremely handy.  If you really want to make pronouncements on whether or not they're useful, go grab a Hue kit and a smart speaker and let me know what you think after you've used them for a while.

I'm not acting like an "expert". It's a light switch. How much of an expert you need to be to flip one from OFF to ON ? LOL Like I said, the usefulness doesn't outweight data hoarding done by mega corporations because you need to have their shit in your home. It just doesn't.

[Commodus]

1 minute ago, RejZoR said:

I'm not acting like an "expert". It's a light switch. How much of an expert you need to be to flip one from OFF to ON ? LOL Like I said, the usefulness doesn't outweight data hoarding done by mega corporations because you need to have their shit in your home. It just doesn't.

Data hoarding is a separate argument, though, and not really what we were discussing in this mini-thread.

 

I'm comfortable with what Google and Amazon are collecting, in part because I know how limited the gathering actually is.  There's an irrational panic of sorts around smart speakers because many people tend to exaggerate how much they're actually gathering.  "OMG it's recording everything you do, and Google/Amazon employees are laughing at you!"  Er, no.  The truth is somewhere between that paranoid fantasy and the ardent apologists.

 

If you don't feel comfortable sharing what actually does go to the tech company, that's fine.  But it's a distortion to claim that these are just data mining devices.

[appleache]

4 minutes ago, Commodus said:

Data hoarding is a separate argument, though, and not really what we were discussing in this mini-thread.

 

I'm comfortable with what Google and Amazon are collecting, in part because I know how limited the gathering actually is.  There's an irrational panic of sorts around smart speakers because many people tend to exaggerate how much they're actually gathering.  "OMG it's recording everything you do, and Google/Amazon employees are laughing at you!"  Er, no.  The truth is somewhere between that paranoid fantasy and the ardent apologists.

 

If you don't feel comfortable sharing what actually does go to the tech company, that's fine.  But it's a distortion to claim that these are just data mining devices.

but this news IS about google listening to everything you say, without "ok google" trigger, they have voice clip including couple fighting, not to mention the alexa case

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/did-alexa-hear-a-murder-we-may-finally-find-out/

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, appleache said:

but this news IS about google listening to everything you say, without "ok google" trigger, they have voice clip including couple fighting, not to mention the alexa case

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/did-alexa-hear-a-murder-we-may-finally-find-out/

I'm aware of that case and what's mentioned in Google, and you're just proving my point -- people are operating on bad understandings of what these devices are actually doing.

 

In the murder case you cited, police and prosecutors were simply hoping that the Echo speaker was always recording info.  And guess what?  Prosecutors dropped the case because their case, which hinged on that speaker data, didn't have enough evidence.

 

Also, I have to laugh at the Google claim, because it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how Assistant works.  Yeah, no shit it doesn't include "OK Google," because it doesn't start recording until after you've said the hotwords.  And if it misinterprets what you say as matching the hotwords (which definitely happens), it's going to capture audio clips by accident.  There's a big difference between "you said something that sounded like hey/OK Google" and intentionally recording non-commands.

[Votivee]

2 hours ago, Commodus said:

I have smart lights; I find them extremely handy.  If you really want to make pronouncements on whether or not they're useful, go grab a Hue kit and a smart speaker and let me know what you think after you've used them for a while.

I love my Hue lights. Some examples of what I use them for:

• I have a very difficult time waking up in the morning, and often sleep through alarms. I have a lamp right next to my bed that basically shines right into my face which turns on when my alarm goes off in the morning. This paired with a sonos speaker on my dresser has basically eliminated the problem I used to have of oversleeping for classes.
• I have to leave my apartment in a quick hurry rather often. There's few things more satisfying than watching all of the lights in my apartment turn off as I pull out of my driveway. Same goes for coming back home. It is also pretty impressive to any guests that are with me.
• Parties.
• Automated night lights

I should note that I don't have a smart speaker, but I do have google assistant on my s8+ which I guess some could argue is the same thing.

 

If any of you aren't smart-home paranoid like some of the people in this thread, I highly recommend sonos as well. Their products are great for ambient noise and parties.

[jagdtigger]

On 7/15/2019 at 9:33 AM, comander said:

As someone who has busted out his share of 80+ hour weeks... Avoiding energy drain pays dividends - it's the same reason people hire maids and gardeners. For what it's worth you can also use IFTT and a number of other things for impressive results in general. 

 

Your argument is valid if you aren't doing anything important or meaningful in life OR don't have physical impediments (I've seen smart lights and switches help my mother who currently needs assistance to walk)

 

---

 

Google actually deletes data points from an individual's profile when requested. Check myactivity.google.com. Aggregate logs do persist but generally practice k-anonymity. (Building models around rare events leads to overfitting anyway so Google isn't losing much). 

 

Assuming you aren't running a pedophile ring, no one is going to spend the time to aggregate all log entries which could, but probably aren't, be you for a legal request. In the event that you have the CIA on your tail, you'd have plausible deniability on your side... And you house would be bugged anyway. 

 

---

 

This is coming from a guy who values his privacy and has deleted most logs from his Google accounts! quit Facebook, ig and Twitter; churns online accounts periodically and has declouded a lot of things. Don't admit murder to Alexa, do take advantage of excellent tools. Don't live like a paranoid maniac, do be cautious. 

Do you seriously believe all this crap you just wrote or you just want to think its the way things should be? So far all the reasons(with very few exceptions) solve things that is caused by sickly laziness....

[79wjd]

16 minutes ago, jagdtigger said:

Do you seriously believe all this crap you just wrote or you just want to think its the way things should be? So far all the reasons(with very few exceptions) solve things that is caused by sickly laziness....

Same can said of cars, except those have detrimental impacts on the planet. A significant number of people could easily switch to a bike and not be hindered in any meaningful way as their commute is short and highly congested leading to bike-type speeds.

 

But I guess that's not against your highly judgmental nature and biased agenda.

[RejZoR]

13 minutes ago, 79wjd said:

Same can said of cars, except those have detrimental impacts on the planet. A significant number of people could easily switch to a bike and not be hindered in any meaningful way as their commute is short and highly congested leading to bike-type speeds.

 

But I guess that's not against your highly judgmental nature and biased agenda.

Yeah, those server farms running your Google whatever smart device to turn on lights are really ecological...

[79wjd]

4 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Yeah, those server farms running your Google whatever smart device to turn on lights are really ecological...

Leagues better than a car, and probably also still better than leaving lights on.