Google Can Hear You
July 11, 2015 11:41 AM Subscribe
Yesterday, news broke that Google has been stealth downloading audio listeners onto every computer that runs Chrome, and transmits audio data back to Google. Effectively, this means that Google had taken itself the right to listen to every conversation in every room that runs Chrome somewhere, without any kind of consent from the people eavesdropped on.
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is from several weeks ago, not yesterday, and is about Chromium, not Chrome, and in any case if it's worth a post it needs to be a somewhat clearer one that establishes the timing and context a little better. -- cortex
i thought this was old news and they dropped it? confused. going to search for more info.
posted by andrewcooke at 11:49 AM on July 11, 2015
posted by andrewcooke at 11:49 AM on July 11, 2015
This is a bit overblown. Chrome's real threat to privacy is that it runs automatically in the background at bootup. You have to go into its settings and then Advanced Settings to disable that otherwise Chrome is always on.
The other bigger threat to privacy is WebRTC which is meant to make browsers function seamlessly as video conference clients. The downside is that this gives the browser direct access to your webcam and microphones.
...and it leaks your public and private ip. Even if you're using a VPn.
Here, see if you have a leaky browser:
https://diafygi.github.io/webrtc-ips/
posted by I-baLL at 11:49 AM on July 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
The other bigger threat to privacy is WebRTC which is meant to make browsers function seamlessly as video conference clients. The downside is that this gives the browser direct access to your webcam and microphones.
...and it leaks your public and private ip. Even if you're using a VPn.
Here, see if you have a leaky browser:
https://diafygi.github.io/webrtc-ips/
posted by I-baLL at 11:49 AM on July 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
This means that staring at my computer and screaming FUCK YOU, GOOGLE might _not_ be an entirely futile exercise.
posted by delfin at 11:50 AM on July 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by delfin at 11:50 AM on July 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
It also looks like, on installs of Chrome, you have to turn on the functionality to make it listen. Also, it only listens on the Google homepage and/or new tabs.
posted by yellowcandy at 11:50 AM on July 11, 2015
posted by yellowcandy at 11:50 AM on July 11, 2015
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No, seriously, this article is about Chromium, not Chrome. Which is perhaps more serious since Chromium is supposed to be open-source Chrome without all the googley appendages. If you download Chrome, you kind have to expect this kind of stuff.
posted by miyabo at 11:47 AM on July 11, 2015