DID you know that Google has been recording you without your knowledge?
The technology giant has effectively turned millions of its users’ smartphones into listening devices that can capture intimate conversations — even when they aren’t in the room.
If you own an Android phone, it’s likely that you’ve used Google’s Assistant, which is similar to Apple’s Siri.
Google says it only turns on and begins recording when you utter the words “OK Google”.
But a Sun investigation has found that the virtual assistant is a little hard of hearing, reports The Sun.
In some cases, just saying “OK” in conversation prompted it to switch on your phone and record around 20 seconds of audio.
It regularly switches on the microphone as you go about your day-to-day activities, none the wiser.
Once Google is done recording, it uploads the audio files to its computer servers — often dubbed “the cloud”.
These files are accessible from absolutely anywhere in the world — as long as you have an internet connection.
That means any device that is signed into your personal Gmail or Google account can access the library of your deepest, darkest secrets.
So if you’re on a laptop right now and signed into Gmail — you could have a listen.
Recordings last around 10-20 seconds on average, and a text version of the conversation is saved.
The Silicon Valley giant states on its terms and conditions that it keeps these recordings for “improving speech recognition against all Google products that use your voice”.
A spokesman told The Sun: “We only process voice searches after the phone believes the hot word ‘OK Google’ is detected. Audio snippets are used by Google to improve the quality of speech recognition across Search.”
It recently launched a smart assistant, Google Home.
Mundane voice recordings from the general public will help its artificial intelligence that runs Google Home, by teaching it how humans naturally communicate.
In simple terms: it’s a free language class for its software.
But Google is, first and foremost, an advertising company and its largest product is a targeted advert service, which it sells to the biggest brands in the world.
Billions
of annual web searches, location and email data allow it to target the
population with specialised marketing — and there is no reason why it
couldn’t do the same with your voice data, too.
So, now for the important question: how can I listen to the sound files Google has from my life?
How can I listen back to the audio Google has recorded from my phone?
It’s pretty easy.
Unlike Apple, who does not publicise any of the voice data it stores through Siri, Google is pretty transparent — giving you full access to your audio.
First, you’ll need to be signed into your Gmail or Google account.
Once you’ve done that, type “history.google.com/history” into your web browser.
You’ll be taken to a hub which contains your entire digital footprint, so be careful, it could make for some grim reading.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/how-google-is-secretly-recording-you-through-your-mobile-monitoring-millions-of-conversations/news-story/8089bf3084a430f4c4be46b81710c158
The technology giant has effectively turned millions of its users’ smartphones into listening devices that can capture intimate conversations — even when they aren’t in the room.
If you own an Android phone, it’s likely that you’ve used Google’s Assistant, which is similar to Apple’s Siri.
Google says it only turns on and begins recording when you utter the words “OK Google”.
But a Sun investigation has found that the virtual assistant is a little hard of hearing, reports The Sun.
In some cases, just saying “OK” in conversation prompted it to switch on your phone and record around 20 seconds of audio.
If
you run Android softwar on your smartphone, Google may have been
recording you every day without you knowing.
Once Google is done recording, it uploads the audio files to its computer servers — often dubbed “the cloud”.
These files are accessible from absolutely anywhere in the world — as long as you have an internet connection.
That means any device that is signed into your personal Gmail or Google account can access the library of your deepest, darkest secrets.
So if you’re on a laptop right now and signed into Gmail — you could have a listen.
Apple also keeps your Siri voice recordings, but it says it anonymizes it after 18 months.
The Silicon Valley giant states on its terms and conditions that it keeps these recordings for “improving speech recognition against all Google products that use your voice”.
A spokesman told The Sun: “We only process voice searches after the phone believes the hot word ‘OK Google’ is detected. Audio snippets are used by Google to improve the quality of speech recognition across Search.”
It recently launched a smart assistant, Google Home.
Mundane voice recordings from the general public will help its artificial intelligence that runs Google Home, by teaching it how humans naturally communicate.
In simple terms: it’s a free language class for its software.
But Google is, first and foremost, an advertising company and its largest product is a targeted advert service, which it sells to the biggest brands in the world.
Google
now makes hundreds of products used by billions of people across the
globe, from YouTube and Android to Smartbox and Google Search. Picture:
Getty.Source:Getty Images
So, now for the important question: how can I listen to the sound files Google has from my life?
How can I listen back to the audio Google has recorded from my phone?
It’s pretty easy.
Unlike Apple, who does not publicise any of the voice data it stores through Siri, Google is pretty transparent — giving you full access to your audio.
First, you’ll need to be signed into your Gmail or Google account.
Once you’ve done that, type “history.google.com/history” into your web browser.
You’ll be taken to a hub which contains your entire digital footprint, so be careful, it could make for some grim reading.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/how-google-is-secretly-recording-you-through-your-mobile-monitoring-millions-of-conversations/news-story/8089bf3084a430f4c4be46b81710c158
