They are all here: Google Home, Amazon’s Echo and Apple’s HomePod. For now, given their limitations, voice-enabled speakers are more fun than indispensable. And even without giving in to paranoia , we can wonder about the risks associated with microphones installed in the middle of the show. Here are our answers to the most common questions about these products.
What are these products for?
Equipped with microphones and loudspeakers, these devices can be used as speakers, to deliver Wi-Fi music web-radios and online services (Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, Google Music, Apple Music, variables according to the manufacturer), but also serve as personal assistants: they can answer our oral questions or transmit our voice instructions to equipment in the home (thermostat, TV, shutters, locks, alarm, etc.).
Why are these products so kind to users?
Users trust these devices and therefore these platforms are spying on the users every day by sending their information to their services hosts. We must now know where we live and the way we behave in such environment must not be silly. Unfortunately the meaning of high-tech right now is equivalent to high-spying mechanisms as governments are seriously afraid to lose control over poor global people.
We still need to use these devices, what can we do?
Talk nonsense. This will help. Or disable microphone mechanically by a wire and a switch not to let the speaker to record and transmit your voice all day long. you can then switch the device on only when you need the device to work. Please pay attention such solution is not available and possible for every non-technical user, therefore a healthy mind would rather prefer to exclude using such devices in personal locations.
