Google Forgot To Tell Users About Its Hidden Spy Microphone

Fact checked

Google has apologized for forgetting to tell users that it’s Nest Secure home security system had a secret built-in microphone.

The tech giant put a microphone in the control pad for the home security system but didn’t bother to tell consumers about it.

Move along folks, nothing to see here! 

RT reports: Google’s Nest Secure system allows users to connect dozens of motion detectors, magnetic door alarms and security cameras to a centralized control unit. The unit monitors the user’s home, sending alerts if anything is amiss. Its initial tech specifications mentioned nothing about the potential spy devices hidden inside.

Naturally, Google caused a stir when it announced earlier this month that owners could use their Nest Secure hub to ask Google Assistant questions like “activate my alarm,” “do I need an umbrella today?,” or “are you spying on my every move?”

Even after announcing the Google Assistant integration, the company didn’t mention the hidden microphone. Only after an outcry from suspicious users and privacy advocates did Google admit that, yes, Nest Secure had a built-in microphone all along, and no, it’s not a big deal.

“The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs. That was an error on our part. The microphone has never been on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option,”Google said.

The tech giant has since amended the device’s tech specs to include the mic. However, privacy advocates and those afraid of inviting Big Brother into their bedrooms weren’t buying Google’s explanation.

Even if neglecting to tell users about the microphone before enabling it with an online update were somehow totally cool, who would trust Google with that kind of access to their homes?

After all, this is the same Google whose Street View cars “accidentally” stored data from WiFi networks they drove past between 2007 and 2010. It’s also the same Google whose sister company installed thousands of free WiFi kiosks throughout New York City that potentially tracked users’ movements; and the same Google that uses facial recognitiontech on users without consent.

Perhaps most terrifying is an internal video leaked from Google last year, describing a future in which Google hoards user data and uses it to push those users towards behavior that “reflects Google’s values.”




Google claimed the video –which the public was never intended to see– was designed to “provoke discussion and debate,” and was “not related to any current or future products.”

But they were totally going to tell you about the microphone some day, swear.

5 Comments

  1. Google, Facebook, Amazon are all CIA assets helping to create the New World Order security and police state.

    • this is true, you should see the massive amounts of huge data centers they are all constructing. the build one, and start filling it with servers, and immediately start build another across the street. The money could only be coming from the central banks. they are doing this all over the world. they know what is going to happen that we don’t.

  2. I do my best to avoid Google. Whenever I try to comment on U tube Google butts in and says ‘sign up beforehand.’ So their loss, I go elsewhere.

  3. LMFAO Google is a parasite that will NEVER go away highly invasive data harvesting occurs to anyone connected to the internet. They can find your precise location with or without GPS on devices. The settings are all fake and you are not in control of your Google account.

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