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Consumer privacy in the era of big tech companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon may not be a hot topic in health care or gun control but in the approach of the presidential elections of 2020, it certainly gains ground.
Every Democratic candidate vying for a confrontation with President Trump will need a stance on consumer privacy in the current era of ubiquitous smartphones, artificial intelligence and data breaches that apparently occur every other day.
The news on Tuesday that Google has not informed consumers of the existence of a hidden microphone in its Nest security features, some Democrat candidates have seized this opportunity to voice their positions on privacy , especially with regard to consumer technology.
Californian Senator Kamala Harris reacted to Nest's news, telling Business Insider: "Americans should not have to worry about the products of their house being able to spy on them."
In the past, Harris has severely criticized technology companies for failing to protect consumer information.
When Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, appeared before Congress last April, Harris led a series of questions that concluded with the 34-year-old billionaire who admitted that his company should have informed 87 Million assigned users of Cambridge Analytica and incorrect processing of their data. information.
"" It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for an authorization "or" it's in the minutest detail "are not exploitable privacy policies," Harris told Business Insider. "But these are the ones that technology companies use regularly."
John Delaney, a former congressman from Maryland, told Business Insider on Thursday that Google's refusal to disclose appropriate information on its Nest security device is another example of why privacy protection legislation privacy must apply to a wide range of technology products. only data collected on the Internet or on mobile phones.
Food labels for technological products
"[We] Mr. Delaney said, "In home alarm systems, they have privacy implications."
Delaney has compared the lack of information on current consumer products to food products before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) makes it a law that requires ingredients to be included on labels.
"The FDA has imposed labeling requirements, so it's obvious that at one point in the history of this country we did not have that information in hand and that the Society has become more progressive in thinking about the needs of its citizens and said: "Hey, it's a good thing to do to protect our citizens," Delaney told us. "And that's the analogy here, the labeling on electronic devices." That's not to say that you have to describe the microchip that it contains. there are implications in the device that relate to your privacy, it should be: disclosed. "
Prior to Tuesday, Nest was notifying consumers, on their packaging or on its website, that the microphone was built into their Nest Guard – the central hub of the Nest Secure home security product. Although the microphone is not activated, Google acknowledged this week that it made a mistake by preventing customers from knowing about its existence.
"The built-in microphone in the device was never meant to be a secret and should have been included in the technical specifications," a Google spokesman told Business Insider later in the week. "It was a mistake on our part."
Since Thursday, the Nest website has been updated to include the microphone mention in its Nest Secure datasheet.
More lawmakers are concerned – "another classic screwed up by another scary technology company"
A number of other lawmakers have admitted that Google's Nest product contained a secret microphone.
Virginia Senator Mark Warner, Privacy Advocate and Senate Vice President, told Business Insider that the fact that Google does not disclose the components of its security device is "totally contrary to consumer expectations ".
"The standard argument that" consumers do not care about privacy "is increasingly refuted because we learn that consumers and policy makers have been kept in the dark for years on the Internet. data collection and marketing practices, "Warner said. "The responsible federal agencies and the US Congress must hold hearings to highlight the ins and outs of the digital economy, including how incumbents are shaping the smart home ecosystem in ways that are potentially unfair and anti-competitive."
Read more: An important privacy group asks the FTC to force Google to part with Nest after failing to inform consumers of the existence of a hidden microphone
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, echoed the need for greater transparency in consumer products.
"Every sensor in every electronic device must be clearly identified by consumers before the purchase," Wyden said. "Americans can choose to place various sensors in their homes or in their pockets depending on their usefulness, but they must always know that they are doing it and that must always be a choice."
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley called Nest's news "another classic trick from another scary tech company."
"This time, Google shamelessly monitors customers with a secret microphone, used to know who knows what – and here we are again with their request for forgiveness after the fact," said Hawley, a Republican. "The American people are wise in this kind of maneuver and it is time for these giants of technology to be held accountable."
The Louisiana Attorney General, Jeff Landry, who said last September that he wanted big tech companies like Google and Facebook "to be dissociated as the federal government has done for Standard Oil there is more than a century, "also reacted to the recent revelation of the Nest microphone.
"Google is probably the most legal and tech-savvy company in the world, and for them, saying" oops, we forgot "is at best misleading," Landry told Business Insider. "It seems like there's always an excuse on their part, frankly, it's getting old."
When asked if the Attorney General was planning to open his own Google inquiry after the last privacy incident, Landry said, "I never close the door to an avenue to protect life. and as the President of the National Association of Attorneys General, I will certainly be discussing with my colleagues this issue, as we do, various issues affecting our states and the nation. "
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