Everyone who knows me knows my apartment is wired including my bathroom. My
smart speakers are in plain sight. Even for the blind. Laughs! Because they
wake up accidentally and make noise all the time. but I do inform anyone coming
to the house for the first time mostly because I’m proud to be a geek.
The individual who cleans the apartment insists that the echo be unplugged in
the Bathroom and the kitchen which is hilarious because it is still enabled in
every other room of the house. And he wants my Show 5 which I just replaced
because I didn’t like it. He also has Hey Google enabled on his lock screen of
his Android phone and invokes it by accident once in a while. I know because
one day my Google Mini and his phone both answered at the same time and it was
funny.
Merv
From: blind-philly-comp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-philly-comp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of David Goldfield
Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2019 12:34 AM
To: blind-philly-comp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-philly-comp] Should People Be Obligated to Tell Guests If There
Are Smart Devices in the Home?
Make Tech Easier - Friday, October 25, 2019 at 1:25 PM
Should People Be Obligated to Tell Guests If There Are Smart Devices in the
Home?
We’ve learned a lot in the past year or two about the possible ways the privacy
of Internet of Things products can be breached. We tend to think of them making
tasks easier and forget that these products are still connected to the Internet
and can still collect data.
This could be why a Google vice president suggested that guests should be
informed
<https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/should-you-tell-guests-you-have-smart-devices-google-thinks-so/>
if you have smart devices in your home. This does present something to
consider. Should people be obligated to tell guests if there are smart devices
in the home?
Our Opinion
Phil thinks it all depends on the devices. If it’s an Amazon Echo, then no, but
if you have a “whole house peppered with IP surveillance cameras,” then yes.
His dad has dementia, so they’ve installed discreet IP cameras around the home
to keep an eye on him since they don’t live close to him. They did let the home
health care worker know that she was potentially being watched. He feels, “It’s
only common courtesy to let people know they are being filmed, no matter how
good the reason.”
Sayak contends “it’s hypocritical of Google to demand the end-users respect
their guests’ privacy, while they wash their hands of it completely.” He sees
it as unacceptable that Google third parties are trying to assess private
Google Home recordings and feels the same with the Nest thermostat. They’re not
doing enough to inspire trust in their smart devices. “Put your own house in
order first, Google, before you preach about privacy.”
David is on the fence. While it feels like extreme paranoia to have a warning
label on your home, the deep privacy concerns with smart devices need to be
addressed before he’s comfortable adding anything else “smart” to his home.
Ultimately, if you have a number of cameras or voice assistants around your
home, he would point it out, especially if there’s a sensitive discussion
taking place. He suggests possibly even disconnecting the devices temporarily.
Since most devices don’t save recordings unless they are directly addressed by
name, Alex thinks it’s a non-issue. He notes that using the same logic, you
would need to warn people that you’re carrying a smartphone because its
microphone could be used to eavesdrop.
Ryan doesn’t think it’s necessary. With the amount of personal info we all give
away on a daily basis to social media networks, Google, etc., it “far outweighs
any potential recordings of random chitchat that these smart devices might pick
up.”
Miguel sees it as “absurd to legally oblige people to go out of their way to
inform their guests of things like these.” He notes that guests visiting homes
in most countries don’t need to be told about other things in the home like
guns.
And this would be a law that would be easy to miss, as it’s not really
instinctual to warn people about things that don’t have any bearing on their
immediate safety. We warn our guests if the tea is boiling hot, if pets are
aggressive, or if there’s noxious gas coming from the bathroom, but when it
comes to the type of TV or entertainment system we’re using, it doesn’t
register. He thinks this kind of law would be too easy for someone to break
without even knowing it existed.
I have many smart devices in my home, but I never thought about warning anyone
before. But if you are someone I’m inviting into my home, you know me, you know
I write for Make Tech Easier and IoT Tech Trends, and you know I have a lot of
tech products, so you already know I have that stuff in my home anyway. I don’t
invite strangers into my home. And if you don’t know that about me, you really
don’t pay attention to much anyway.
Your Opinion
Our writers offered some great thinking points here with regard to our
responsibility, Google’s responsibility, existing information, comparison to
guns in the home, etc. Do you agree? Should people be obligated to tell guests
if there are smart devices in the home? Chime in to our discussion in a comment
below.
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Comments (2)
https://www.maketecheasier.com/should-people-tell-guests-smart-devices-home/
David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.info <http://WWW.DavidGoldfield.info>
