7 ms·

Competition against Amazon Echo is always positive for consumers.

vox_mollis 10y ago
Perhaps, but bear in mind that Google is a PRISM partner, whereas Amazon is not. The NSA will likely record every sound from your house, if you own this. Edit: Downvoters, please educate me on where I am wrong. Thanks.
- profmonocle 10y ago
  > The NSA will likely record every sound from your house, if you own this. It would be very easy to detect something fishy was going on. Even if the device was locked down and the connection was encrypted, they couldn't hide it if the device was uploading large volumes of data with no explanation.
  - vox_mollis 10y ago
    There is a very simple out, here. Google could simply claim that they do all audio processing in the cloud. They wouldn't need to hide it.
    - profmonocle 10y ago
      Siri, Google Now, and the Amazon Echo do audio processing in the cloud, but only after they've been triggered by "OK Google" "Hey Siri", or "Alexa". (Or by hitting a button.) It'd be pretty odd, and terribly inefficient, if the Google Home did hotword detection in the cloud.
  - hellbanner 10y ago
    Eh, the NSA can get it from Google instead of bothering with each individual device.
  - ricardobeat 10y ago
    You don't need to upload large volumes of data for voice recognition (see Siri), and if you're only looking for specific keywords/sentences you can trickle the data over time.
    - profmonocle 10y ago
      Yes, but that's not what the person I was responding to said. They said the NSA would record every sound in the house, which would require a detectable amount of bandwidth even at low bitrates. The hotword detection (OK Google/Hey Siri/Alexa) currently happens on the device - it would be terribly inefficient to do that in the cloud. If a security researcher notices their Google Home is transmitting significant amounts of data without them using the "OK Google" prompt, that would raise eyebrows.
- castis 10y ago
  If I had to fathom a guess, your downvotes may spring from "The NSA will likely record every sound from your house". I don't know much on all the subjects that would converge over _the NSA storing all the audio from everyones house_ but it seems unlikely. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about though.
  - mason240 10y ago
    I would guess the downvotes come from this: >Perhaps, but bear in mind that Google is a PRISM partner, whereas Amazon is not. We simply have no way of knowing, and our best guess is that the NSA/CIA/HS/FBI gets their own backdoor private APIs to any data source they want, Amazon included.
- cookiecaper 10y ago
  I upvoted you before you went grey because I do think that's a salient point, but I would guess you're being downvoted because the suggestion that the NSA will record the activity in your home around the clock is considered excessively paranoid. These devices usually perform hotword detection locally and don't start sending data up to the cloud until the hotword is spoken, at which point they capture only a few seconds of audio. Beyond that, there's really no difference between Google Home and a Nexus phone. If Google wanted to record all of the audio around you, they're already equipped to do so for like 50% of the population that runs Android (and there has been speculation that intel agencies are able to remotely activate cell phone microphones and listen in).
  - jluk 10y ago
    Interesting, I am not familiar with this subject - do you have any links on hotwords in this context or examples when this has happened in the past?
- angryasian 10y ago
  I personally think this is ignorant. Its already been proven several times that if the government wants access to a companies data they will get it. The shutdown of Lavabit has proven this. Marissa Mayer said explicitly thats its treason to not go along with the NSA. http://www.businessinsider.com/lavabit-founder-letter-2014-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/lavabit-founder-letter-2014-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/marissa-mayer-its-treason-to-ignore-the-nsa-2013-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/marissa-mayer-its-treason-to-...
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - vox_mollis 10y ago
    There is a large difference between being a PRISM partner( broad hoovering of all data )and a party to a narrowly-scoped warrant or subpoena, as Amazon would be. Meyer would do well to cite the specific statute that makes noncompliance into a charge of treason. Otherwise she's clearly lying to spin the actions of Yahoo for PR points.
    - angryasian 10y ago
      Well we can go through a back and forth on this but we'll never really know the true extent of PRISM as whats been speculated is they have a direct connection to ISP's so the reality is that they probably know more than what even an individual company knows. Both Google and Apple have said the same, any access requires court order. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program) Google: "Google cares deeply about the security of our users' data. We disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully. From time to time, people allege that we have created a government 'back door' into our systems, but Google does not have a backdoor for the government to access private user data."[112] "[A]ny suggestion that Google is disclosing information about our users' internet activity on such a scale is completely false."[113] Apple: "We have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order."[115]
- codingdave 10y ago
  Odds are that you already have a phone near you, with a microphone. If they want to record you, they don't need a new device to do so.
  - DKnoll3 10y ago
    Sure, so let's give them as many sources, streams, and means of accessing our lives as they want!
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  [citation needed] Last time I checked, the only connection Google had with PRISM was their fiber optics being hacked by NSA. I don't recall any proof Google was actively cooperating with them.
- thesimpsons1022 10y ago
  those documents are half a decade old. im sure amazon is as well now.
balls187 10y ago
Yes, except I trust Google FAR less than I trust Amazon--simply because Google has permeated in many more facets of my digital life (gdocs, gmail, chrome, maps, search, etc). Amazon just has my shopping history.
- buddylw 10y ago
  I don't really 'trust' either company, but the fact that I'm in so deep with Google already makes me less hesitant to add this one thing. Google already knows me. I've basically slept with Google, so seeing me naked is just not a big deal. If Google uses that against me or gets compromised by a third party I'm screwed anyway and the transcripts from my living room will be the least of my worries.
  - balls187 10y ago
    Interesting take. I should rephrase this to say--I am less interested in allowing google to profit even more from me.
    - Vraxx 10y ago
      I don't really understand this motivation. Google profiting from your actions doesn't necessarily mean that you're losing something. It's not a zero sum game between you and Google, there are other actors in the system. A similar analogy would be how social systems are valued by their number of users. Their value is not coming from your pocket, you add value to them by being a user and they add value to you by providing you with some service that you enjoy (thus the reason you are a user of theirs). Granted, I understand if your reasoning is not wanting to "pay" more personal info to Google, I just wanted to point out that their profit has no net positive or negative impact on you in it's own right.
      - kbutler 10y ago
        Biologically, you're much better off with commensal organisms that expect to have a long, profitable relationship with you, giving you things you want and benefiting from you in return, rather than organisms with a shorter time horizon.

Perhaps, but bear in mind that Google is a PRISM partner, whereas Amazon is not. The NSA will likely record every sound from your house, if you own this. Edit: Downvoters, please educate me on where I am wrong. Thanks.

profmonocle 10y ago
> The NSA will likely record every sound from your house, if you own this. It would be very easy to detect something fishy was going on. Even if the device was locked down and the connection was encrypted, they couldn't hide it if the device was uploading large volumes of data with no explanation.
- vox_mollis 10y ago
  There is a very simple out, here. Google could simply claim that they do all audio processing in the cloud. They wouldn't need to hide it.
  - profmonocle 10y ago
    Siri, Google Now, and the Amazon Echo do audio processing in the cloud, but only after they've been triggered by "OK Google" "Hey Siri", or "Alexa". (Or by hitting a button.) It'd be pretty odd, and terribly inefficient, if the Google Home did hotword detection in the cloud.
- hellbanner 10y ago
  Eh, the NSA can get it from Google instead of bothering with each individual device.
- ricardobeat 10y ago
  You don't need to upload large volumes of data for voice recognition (see Siri), and if you're only looking for specific keywords/sentences you can trickle the data over time.
  - profmonocle 10y ago
    Yes, but that's not what the person I was responding to said. They said the NSA would record every sound in the house, which would require a detectable amount of bandwidth even at low bitrates. The hotword detection (OK Google/Hey Siri/Alexa) currently happens on the device - it would be terribly inefficient to do that in the cloud. If a security researcher notices their Google Home is transmitting significant amounts of data without them using the "OK Google" prompt, that would raise eyebrows.
castis 10y ago
If I had to fathom a guess, your downvotes may spring from "The NSA will likely record every sound from your house". I don't know much on all the subjects that would converge over _the NSA storing all the audio from everyones house_ but it seems unlikely. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about though.
- mason240 10y ago
  I would guess the downvotes come from this: >Perhaps, but bear in mind that Google is a PRISM partner, whereas Amazon is not. We simply have no way of knowing, and our best guess is that the NSA/CIA/HS/FBI gets their own backdoor private APIs to any data source they want, Amazon included.
cookiecaper 10y ago
I upvoted you before you went grey because I do think that's a salient point, but I would guess you're being downvoted because the suggestion that the NSA will record the activity in your home around the clock is considered excessively paranoid. These devices usually perform hotword detection locally and don't start sending data up to the cloud until the hotword is spoken, at which point they capture only a few seconds of audio. Beyond that, there's really no difference between Google Home and a Nexus phone. If Google wanted to record all of the audio around you, they're already equipped to do so for like 50% of the population that runs Android (and there has been speculation that intel agencies are able to remotely activate cell phone microphones and listen in).
- jluk 10y ago
  Interesting, I am not familiar with this subject - do you have any links on hotwords in this context or examples when this has happened in the past?
angryasian 10y ago
I personally think this is ignorant. Its already been proven several times that if the government wants access to a companies data they will get it. The shutdown of Lavabit has proven this. Marissa Mayer said explicitly thats its treason to not go along with the NSA. http://www.businessinsider.com/lavabit-founder-letter-2014-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/lavabit-founder-letter-2014-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/marissa-mayer-its-treason-to-ignore-the-nsa-2013-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/marissa-mayer-its-treason-to-...
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- vox_mollis 10y ago
  There is a large difference between being a PRISM partner( broad hoovering of all data )and a party to a narrowly-scoped warrant or subpoena, as Amazon would be. Meyer would do well to cite the specific statute that makes noncompliance into a charge of treason. Otherwise she's clearly lying to spin the actions of Yahoo for PR points.
  - angryasian 10y ago
    Well we can go through a back and forth on this but we'll never really know the true extent of PRISM as whats been speculated is they have a direct connection to ISP's so the reality is that they probably know more than what even an individual company knows. Both Google and Apple have said the same, any access requires court order. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program) Google: "Google cares deeply about the security of our users' data. We disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully. From time to time, people allege that we have created a government 'back door' into our systems, but Google does not have a backdoor for the government to access private user data."[112] "[A]ny suggestion that Google is disclosing information about our users' internet activity on such a scale is completely false."[113] Apple: "We have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order."[115]
codingdave 10y ago
Odds are that you already have a phone near you, with a microphone. If they want to record you, they don't need a new device to do so.
- DKnoll3 10y ago
  Sure, so let's give them as many sources, streams, and means of accessing our lives as they want!
TeMPOraL 10y ago
[citation needed] Last time I checked, the only connection Google had with PRISM was their fiber optics being hacked by NSA. I don't recall any proof Google was actively cooperating with them.
thesimpsons1022 10y ago
those documents are half a decade old. im sure amazon is as well now.

balls187 10y ago

Yes, except I trust Google FAR less than I trust Amazon--simply because Google has permeated in many more facets of my digital life (gdocs, gmail, chrome, maps, search, etc). Amazon just has my shopping history.

buddylw 10y ago
I don't really 'trust' either company, but the fact that I'm in so deep with Google already makes me less hesitant to add this one thing. Google already knows me. I've basically slept with Google, so seeing me naked is just not a big deal. If Google uses that against me or gets compromised by a third party I'm screwed anyway and the transcripts from my living room will be the least of my worries.
- balls187 10y ago
  Interesting take. I should rephrase this to say--I am less interested in allowing google to profit even more from me.
  - Vraxx 10y ago
    I don't really understand this motivation. Google profiting from your actions doesn't necessarily mean that you're losing something. It's not a zero sum game between you and Google, there are other actors in the system. A similar analogy would be how social systems are valued by their number of users. Their value is not coming from your pocket, you add value to them by being a user and they add value to you by providing you with some service that you enjoy (thus the reason you are a user of theirs). Granted, I understand if your reasoning is not wanting to "pay" more personal info to Google, I just wanted to point out that their profit has no net positive or negative impact on you in it's own right.
    - kbutler 10y ago
      Biologically, you're much better off with commensal organisms that expect to have a long, profitable relationship with you, giving you things you want and benefiting from you in return, rather than organisms with a shorter time horizon.