Google has been stealth downloading audio listeners onto every computer that runs Chrome

a reply to: Chickensalad

Yes, in a way. I had a phone conversation with my brother, next day facebook was running adds about the same sink he just told me he was putting in the bathroom. Not an ordinary sink! I believe this is true and run google chrome, I had disabled all the mics and such for the computer and did not have facebook on my phone!!!

a reply to: Thorneblood

Turn it on? Um no, but thanks for playing. As of yesterday, the voice command for my Galaxy S5, miraculously disappeared and not because of anything I did. Automatic update without my permission, I might add. And because it CAME on my phone when I purchased it, well, it would seem that your assumptions are incorrect and pardon me for saying, invalid. Why would you give an opinion based on an assumption without even knowing anything about Google voice in the first place? It's just ridiculous.
And the poster is spot on with his "paranoia" aka knowledge.

Well, that news is pretty much amounts to a noli me tangere for that particular piece of software for anyone with common sense.

Simple fact is that "they" know everything about us. It doesn't take long to build a list of our likes and dislikes, interests and hobbies so we can all be categorized and profiled for targeting with all the advertisements and marketing. It also follows that the same information on what we write, where we write it and our political, religious and personal thinking is also categorized, providing those who monitor such things to get a flag when someone articulates an opinion NOT in line with the officially pushed groupthink.

I still remember on my 50th Birthday, logging on to surf the sites I always look at, and finding all the banner ads were for "Holidays for the over 50's", Funeral Expense Plans" (creepy!) and just about everything else that the marketing people think us oldies spend our time thinking about.

I truly believe that everything we do or say online is considered fair game for the government to monitor and, like in a public place, any idea or expectation of privacy is naive. I don't necessarily agree with it, but that's the reality right now.

We then have the expansive monitoring by the government agencies, well I say "government" but it always seems the government doesn't actually have much control of them. Our taxpayer money is lavished upon them in ever larger numbers and their mass surveillance projects keep growing in size, and it's all to protect us and look for those few amongst us who are planning on committing crimes or terrorism. Unfortunately, I'd say that, so far, they have failed miserably and we should be shutting them down and asking for a refund. Unless of course, they DO know who is planning something or unstable enough to do so, and actually allow them to go through with it, as it then helps their claims that they need even more powers! What a sorry state of affiars!

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: wasaka

I don't use google neither have chrome in my computer, Google has become the worst nightmare when it comes to internet monopolies and their influence just keeps growing.

This.
It's about time people were aware of the damage Google is doing to the Internet, small business, media, competition... From a webmaster/small business perspective, Google is no different to a local thuggish mafia coming in and demanding protection money, and if you refuse they brick up your door and send your customers down the high street to whichever competitor is paying them the most protection money.

Just look at their ads - they force people to compete against each other, paying the most money for an ad spot. If you don't pay them ad money, you end up on page 20, if you're lucky.

Just look at the media results (yes I'm talking adult) - they deliberately promote illegal tube sites with masses of stolen content over the original site creating that content. Yes, you might think that's great, getting it for free, but people don't seem to consider that the number of studios now making that content has more than halved in the last ten years, and it's still shrinking. If you watch stolen media, one day you'll have almost nothing new left to watch because there's no longer any money in making it - these are not charities, they are businesses.

Google also promotes it's major partners, Amazon and eBay, over all small businesses, and even when those businesses put more effort and information onto their pages than either of those corporations. The next time you're looking for a product, chances are Amazon and eBay will be in the top, then the rest will be paying advertisers. Might not be such a surprise considering these three corporations have swapped various senior staff over the years.

Sorry, I went off on one there.
Bottom line, Google is f-ing evil, and if you use it you're contributing to the corporate takeover of the Internet.

a reply to: wasaka

Ok Google, f#k off. That's enough.

Interesting that this would not have been outed but for free and open-source software! Thanks are in order for the Debian project. My understanding is that Google kind of shrugged their shoulders and lied with "It's not on by default" which was IMMEDIATELY proven wrong!

Oh yeah. I uninstalled Chrome and Chromium both after reading the bug report on the Debian list.

If the audio they get back is as glitchy as what I get when I have used chrome on a few different computers..don't worry they wont be able to use it. As for the OP..im not surprised and I do not use chrome.

a reply to: wasaka

As I was reading this an advert came on the TV for Google that's starts with the words "ok Google, could this activate it for people with the pc in the same room as the TV?

a reply to: ThePeopleParty

Yes.
In the car all the phones will activate if someone says "ok Google"
Be funny when someone clever does the "xbox, sign out" prank

My wife has chrome installed on her lap top. Last night, while her laptop was open, she told me she thought she had low sex drive. This morning, for the first time ever, she had not one but TWO ads in her email for products to correct low sex drive in women. I don't think it's a coincidence.

a reply to: wasaka

originally posted by: deerislander
My wife has chrome installed on her lap top. Last night, while her laptop was open, she told me she thought she had low sex drive. This morning, for the first time ever, she had not one but TWO ads in her email for products to correct low sex drive in women. I don't think it's a coincidence.

a reply to: wasaka

Just remember to say "Ok Google, sign out" before
you expect to have any private conversations.

Yes, it may take a little training, but just act like
your at work, until you say the magic words, and
you're be just fine.

No worries, this is just the new America.

originally posted by: ScientificRailgun
If you're that worried about Big Bad Evil Google eavesdropping on your "Me Time" sessions you can simply uninstall the microphone driver from your computer.

Or here's a shocker. Don't use Google Chrome.
Even better! Read your freaking EULA's. Nobody does, but if you took the time to even skim it you could make sure there's nothing there that says "By installing this software you agree to be a possible organ donor for Google CEO's"

Nope.

Our right to privacy shouldn't be relegated to fine print and/or technological savvy.

originally posted by: Liquesence
a reply to: Thorneblood

True, Google itself might not—and probably is not— spying on people, but once that technology is there—and activated— it could be used by a third party, say the government/NSA, if they were to tap or hack into it.

These days, the 'hacking' is a secret court approving a secret National Security Letter and Google has no choice.

The Chinese and Russians will hack into it and get the same information.

originally posted by: wasaka
Just remember to say "Ok Google, sign out" before
you expect to have any private conversations.

Yes, it may take a little training, but just act like
your at work, until you say the magic words, and
you're be just fine.

What does that do? Give the NSA a cue that when you say "Ok Google, sign out" is when they should really start paying attention because that's when you think it's not listening?

By the way I attempted to install Chrome once and it attempted to overwrite protected areas of my operating system which no other browser ever did, so I never got it installed. I could have bypassed the protection (which most computers lack), but I didn't like that, which was my main reason for not installing it at the time.

I've since found others reasons to not like it, like they are banning certain add-ons that they don't like (meaning add-ons that don't promote the goal of making them richer than they already are), so I do often wonder if people who install it know what they're getting themselves into.

Didn't they drop their "do no evil" slogan, so now it's ok for them to do evil?


The OP story is actually about Chromium, not Chrome, so they aren't exactly the same thing, though related.

a reply to: wasaka

DARPA should be arrested for SWATing
2nd