Google eavesdropping tool installed on computers without permission
Privacy advocates claim always-listening component was involuntarily
activated within Chromium, potentially exposing private conversations
Privacy
campaigners and open source developers are up in arms over the secret
installing of Google software which is capable of listening in on
conversations held in front of a computer.
First spotted by open source developers, the Chromium browser – the open source basis for Google’s Chrome – began remotely installing audio-snooping code that was capable of listening to users.
It was designed to support Chrome’s new “OK, Google” hotword
detection – which makes the computer respond when you talk to it – but
was installed, and, some users have claimed, it is activated on
computers without their permission.
“Without consent, Google’s code had downloaded a black box of code
that – according to itself – had turned on the microphone and was
actively listening to your room,” said Rick Falkvinge, the Pirate party
founder, in a blog post.
“Which means that your computer had been stealth configured to send
what was being said in your room to somebody else, to a private company
in another country, without your consent or knowledge, an audio
transmission triggered by … an unknown and unverifiable set of
conditions.”
Privacy and open source advocates complain over secret installation of audio-snooping software from Google.
Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
