Google Home - Loving it!

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I love my google home and all that it can do on its own and with my smart devices.

I especially love the trivia, games and all the hidden stuff.

"Ok google trivia"

Like for Halloween:
"Ok google scare me"
"OK google play scary sounds"

I can't wait until my Google Home mini's arrive so I can have them in every room.

I have most of my lights, ceiling fans along with my furnace thermostat hooked up to it.

I ask it how long to get to work and it checks local traffic.

I ask it to add stuff to my shopping list on my phone.

It even recognizes the voices of multiple users so you can have separate work addresses to ask it for traffic conditions, or morning news story preferences etc. and even your own shopping lists sent to the right phone!
 
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Can I have your IP so I can hack in and listen in on everything happening in your house?
 
[foil hat] but now the NSA will know what is happening and who is saying what in your house!! oh noes!![/Foil Hat]

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ALL HAIL THE GOOGLE OVERLORDS!!!
 
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I have the ability to monitor it through my PFSense router. It is never transmitting anything unless I'm using it. It does check for updates once a day but the bytes sent/received is so small it can't possibly be voice data.

You have nothing to worry about. Besides you can unplug it or press the privacy button on it when you want privacy.
 
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Originally Posted By: StevieC
I have the ability to monitor it through my PFSense router. It is never transmitting anything unless I'm using it. It does check for updates once a day but the bytes sent/received is so small it can't possibly be voice data.

You have nothing to worry about. Besides you can unplug it or press the privacy button on it when you want privacy.



But what if it records and holds in memory.. and then sends it along the next time you 'authorize' the data to flow? How could you distinguish the data?

And "privacy button" - LOL boy those engineers really know how to pull the right strings
 
Actually I can answer this... The bytes it sends are way too low to be voice data. It receives far more in return.

Besides if they want to listen to me typing on BITOG watching some show on Netflix or talking about what to have for dinner then by all means go right ahead.
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I'm sure google is listening and using data mined to sell you stuff. That is their model. Indeed they also know all my web search terms and they can read peoples' gmail. But those require a bit more human interaction to execute.
 
I work in customers homes on a daily basis and people who have it and also the Amazon Echo love them.
Just started with linking in the security systems with Echo.

There will always be naysayers and privacy concerns but I suspect it will do quite well judging by the limited input from customers lately. It is a bit more of a step up from the days of email so I suspect not everyone will have one but as time goes on most.

AS far as the privacy thing, I think its valid for me personally but the general public doesnt care (at least not yet) as they gave up their privacy when gmail became so popular, since it was ad free in exchange for having your email electronically scanned and information from those emails sold to the highest bidder as just about every "free" internet service does now, even the ones with ads, though they dont scan your emails yet, your cookies provide what you are doing and when.

What I just typed is not being negative, I am confirming your positive review, it will become quite popular.

I am addressing the naysayers and I dont disagree with them about privacy but dont be a naysayer if you are accepting free email accounts or anything free on line.
Maybe better said, researching and learning to limit the exposure of your private information all over the internet, then you earn a degree to be a naysayer.
Im getting there but not there yet, I have opened up some pay email accounts and recently a VPN, most of this because all the data breaches and drives me nuts that all these companies are making money off our information that we trade for free services but they make WAY more then we get in return.

In reality our private information including every single movement we make is tracked one way or another and the cell phone is the biggest offender of all, as the price for those "free" apps is another trade for your privacy.

Anyway, great feedback on the device, I bet it will be a big holiday item this year, who knows, I will not discount having one myself.
 
If Google Home was secretly listening in, wouldn't some outfit figure it out and make a huge deal out of it (rightfully so). Either that or it would be leaked. I don't think Google was take that risk.

Example: remember the backlash and confusion about Microsoft's personal privacy settings when W10 first rolled out?
 
We have a privacy commissioner up here that investigates all this because we have stricter laws about information privacy up here and they have gotten on the cases of other minute things and so far not a peep out of them with Google Home. Just FWIW.

Plus I haven't seen anything huge transmitted back to google other than small data packets when I ask it to do something, far less bytes than it would take to transmit all my voice content.
 
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
If Google Home was secretly listening in, wouldn't some outfit figure it out and make a huge deal out of it (rightfully so). Either that or it would be leaked. I don't think Google was take that risk.


People don't seem to care, or know, that's the thing. Many of the wireless devices can be hacked. A co-worker of my father worked for the department of defense before retiring and working for the state. His neighbors bought a new oven that had wireless capability. He showed them how he could hack into the oven and change all sorts of settings on it from the kitchen of his own house next door.

I would be more concerned with devices that have cameras such as home security camera systems, computers with webcams, your neighborhood kid with a drone, etc.
 
I have cameras up at my place but I got a professional DVR for security. It also is logged by my Firewall when connections are made and will alert me by e-mail so I know if anyone other than me is watching it.
 
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