Google integrated mic nest was "never supposed to be a secret"

Google admitted to making a mistake by not revealing that its Nest Secure home security system included a built-in microphone. In a statement given to Internal business, a spokesman for the company said, "The built-in microphone to the device has never been designed to be a secret and should have been included in the technical specifications. It was a mistake on our part. "

In early February, Google announced that it will add integrated Google Assistant support to Nest Guard, the hub and keyboard of the Nest Secure system. Previously, the product page of the security system did not mention the inclusion of a microphone. In its statement, Google said that "the microphone has never been activated and is activated only when users activate the option specifically". The product page has since been updated to mention the microphone.

Google continued, "Security systems often use microphones to provide features based on sound detection. We have included the microphone on the device in order to possibly offer additional features to our users, such as the ability to detect shards of glass. "

An undisclosed microphone has some problems. Either you do not trust Google to not listen to you (what people often accuse Facebook of doing via the microphone of their phone), or you do not want the microphone is not hacked by a third party and spied on you. Anyway, Google should have disclosed the existence of the microphone during the first announcement of Nest Secure, and users may rightly feel that their trust was betrayed by the supplier of Nest products.