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It still surprises me that so many people either don't care or are ok with this. Then there are those that do care but still use this stuff which absolutely baf

It still surprises me that so many people either don't care or are ok with this. Then there are those that do care but still use this stuff which absolutely baffles me, especially on hacker news. People I work with have to do various types of training on handling lots of private data and the risks of what happens when that data is not handled properly or worse and yet they give away so much without a care in the world. Infact I talk with 2 people that agree with me in trying to keep as much of your online activity private as possible. They both use Facebook after criticising how bad the company is.

mtgx 7y ago
As others have said, first off, most people aren't actually aware. I mean most HN readers would keep saying that these things listening to everything you say and not just "keywords" was nothing but a conspiracy theory. So #1 reason is definitely the fact that most people don't know what the company is actually doing because the company goes to great lengths to hide and mislead about that fact. Now, for those who do know or assume that this was happening all along but yet still continue to use something like this, I think it's because they like the feature and find it convenient and they CHOOSE TO BELIEVE THAT THE COMPANY CAN BE TRUSTED. So #2 is a matter of wrong expectations and being too trusting in entities that care nothing more than to do things that make them more money. If there is one thing you should trust about a company is that its #1 incentive is to make money - everything else is an direct consequence of that.
cameronbrown 7y ago
I understand the risks. I'm not concerned about voice assistants (specifically Google Assistant) because I already trust them with far more sensitive data: my search history and Gmail account. Those are a much bigger deal for me to worry about wrt. privacy concerns.

mtgx 7y ago

As others have said, first off, most people aren't actually aware. I mean most HN readers would keep saying that these things listening to everything you say and not just "keywords" was nothing but a conspiracy theory. So #1 reason is definitely the fact that most people don't know what the company is actually doing because the company goes to great lengths to hide and mislead about that fact. Now, for those who do know or assume that this was happening all along but yet still continue to use something like this, I think it's because they like the feature and find it convenient and they CHOOSE TO BELIEVE THAT THE COMPANY CAN BE TRUSTED. So #2 is a matter of wrong expectations and being too trusting in entities that care nothing more than to do things that make them more money. If there is one thing you should trust about a company is that its #1 incentive is to make money - everything else is an direct consequence of that.

cameronbrown 7y ago

I understand the risks. I'm not concerned about voice assistants (specifically Google Assistant) because I already trust them with far more sensitive data: my search history and Gmail account. Those are a much bigger deal for me to worry about wrt. privacy concerns.