Google “forgot” to mention about the microphone in Google Nest devices

Nest was a home automation company which manufactured programmable smoke detectors and thermostats for homes. But in 2014, Google bought the Nest Labs for $3.2 billion. Since then Google as a parent company has been making the products the company made before acquisition including smart home cameras.

Now, in a revelation Google confirmed that it forgot to mention that it had put a microphone in the Nest Secure home alarm system. The news doesn’t come as a surprise as Facebook has been caught multiple times spying on people, stealing and storing private data of its users. Now following suit, world’s largest tech company which already has more than enough data on its users with their consent has revealed that it has been putting microphones in smart home devices.

According to the company, the omission of the microphone from the specification list of the device was a mistake. The tech firm said, “The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs.”

About the microphone, Google said that the microphone is not active inside the devices and the users personally has to turn it on. It should be noted that Google’s smart devices started selling in 2017 and since then the company hasn’t told its customers about the presence of the microphone in its devices.

Even now the device spec list doesn’t mention the presence of the in-built microphone inside the device. Earlier the company said that its voice assistant feature would be available on the Nest Guard, which controls the home alarm sensors.

It’s not just Google or Facebook, but there are many apps and Internet companies which have been found time and again spying on users and stealing their private data. They store the user’s data without their consent or knowledge. Earlier, some Apple apps were found recording screens of phones and other private data.

This is not the first time Google has been found guilty storing or monitoring users’ data without their consent. Back in 2010, Google admitted that it had ‘accidently’ collected some of the users’ internet activity through open Wi-Fi. Last year, an AP investigation found out that the company was tracking users’ location data through the use of Google apps and services even when the Google location service was turned off

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