Google eavesdropping tool installed on computers without permission

[FreddyFreeloader]

Content source

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/23/google-eavesdropping-tool-installed-computers-without-permission

Privacy campaigners and open source developers are up in arms over the secret installing of Google software which is capable of listening in on conversations held in front of a computer.

First spotted by open source developers, the Chromium browser – the open source basis for Google’s Chrome – began remotely installing audio-snooping code that was capable of listening to users.

It was designed to support Chrome’s new “OK, Google” hotword detection – which makes the computer respond when you talk to it – but was installed, and, some users have claimed, it is activated on computers without their permission.

“Without consent, Google’s code had downloaded a black box of code that – according to itself – had turned on the microphone and was actively listening to your room,” said Rick Falkvinge, the Pirate party founder, in a blog post. “Which means that your computer had been stealth configured to send what was being said in your room to somebody else, to a private company in another country, without your consent or knowledge, an audio transmission triggered by … an unknown and unverifiable set of conditions.”

 

[Rolo]

Drama queens...heh.

What did they think the microphone icon in the search box on the Google home page that says "voice search" does?

Voice search functions have become an accepted feature of modern smartphones, but their movement into the home through the smart TV, and now browser, have caused concerns over the possibility of being listened to within the home.

Do these people leave their smartphones outside their homes or something?

 

[Tony Cole]

I really see these kinda activists as idiots who are, either psychotic or lost in their own delusional world.

 

[comfortablynumb15]

Well, no, they aren't "psychotic", and it's rather stupid to simply dismiss worries like this as delusions. Every reasonable person here who pays attention knows that Google gets up to a lot of shenanigans and that they aren't your buddy watching out for you. That said, like it or not as Rolo points out, this is used for a very common and legitimate purpose as well. It can be opted out of (where I have no idea, I don't see any option as of yet), and mics can be disabled. Quite honestly I've found voice search in Google to suck anyway unless you talk like you're trying to communicate with a 4 year old. This stuff is a problem, but there are ways around it.

 

[DrySun]

Well, no, they aren't "psychotic", and it's rather stupid to simply dismiss worries like this as delusions. Every reasonable person here who pays attention knows that Google gets up to a lot of shenanigans and that they aren't your buddy watching out for you. That said, like it or not as Rolo points out, this is used for a very common and legitimate purpose as well. It can be opted out of (where I have no idea, I don't see any option as of yet), and mics can be disabled. Quite honestly I've found voice search in Google to suck anyway unless you talk like you're trying to communicate with a 4 year old. This stuff is a problem, but there are ways around it.

I can smell the nothing to hide arguments from a mile away.

 

[comfortablynumb15]

I can smell the nothing to hide arguments from a mile away.

Yeah, those get tossed around a lot. So I guess these folks would be alright with the FBI coming in and trashing their place because they know they're innocent, right? In reality they'd sue so fast the pen they'd use to sign the papers would catch fire.

 

[Rolo]

I really see these kinda activists as idiots who are, either psychotic or lost in their own delusional world.

Dismissive, ad hominem

Make no mistake: these activists do help to keep things in check for everybody.