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The next google incursion

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:54 am
by paul1149
Via the people at malwaretips, I learn that google has now dropped a closed-code audio listener into the latest version of Chromium. It will eavesdrop on your mic. Details can be had here.

It will not be removable, but when it comes out, the way to disable it will be to disable "Ok Google" in settings:

Image
(courtesy ghacks.net)

At this time, our version of Chromium does not have this setting, or presumably, the extension/plugin or whatever it is.

Re: The next google incursion

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 2:28 pm
by paul1149
I've been trying the toolbar on the right side today, and actually it's a little strained because the reload button is so far from most of my tabs. So I have to select the tab and then travel over. In the old Opera, which was very flexible, I used to have two sets of nav buttons for that reason, one on each side of the Address Bar.

Re: The next google incursion

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 5:30 am
by dev
paul1149 wrote:I've been trying the toolbar on the right side today, and actually it's a little strained because the reload button is so far from most of my tabs. So I have to select the tab and then travel over. In the old Opera, which was very flexible, I used to have two sets of nav buttons for that reason, one on each side of the Address Bar.
Wrong thread m8 ?

Re: The next google incursion

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 6:05 am
by The Red Zone
paul1149 wrote:At this time, our version of Chromium does not have this setting, or presumably, the extension/plugin or whatever it is.
It would be quite some time before that feature would show up in a stable build. By the time it gets to stable, I'm sure the Slimjet folks will know how to handle it. ;) That article shows it on version 45.0.2429.0. The current Debian unstable version is 43.0.2357.124, and the current Slimjet version is based on 42.0.2311.90.

Re: The next google incursion

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 6:16 am
by paul1149
dev wrote:Wrong thread m8 ?
Indeed! :oops:

Re: The next google incursion

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 6:18 am
by paul1149
Here's a link where you can check what audio google has uploaded from you: https://history.google.com/history/audio. I've bookmarked it.

Re: The next google incursion

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 7:33 am
by dev
paul1149 wrote:Here's a link where you can check what audio google has uploaded from you: https://history.google.com/history/audio. I've bookmarked it.
As bad as when the xbox1 launched with its kinect monitoring everything you did.

Re: The next google incursion

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 8:11 am
by The Red Zone
Thanks for that link paul. I do have a gmail account, but it makes me wonder how that feature would affect people who use Chrome/Chromium and use Outlook, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc., and not gmail as their primary email provider. ...hmm

It seems like data would be collected with no way for the user to verify what Google has without a Google account.

[insert cuss words here] Google!

Re: The next google incursion

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 5:39 pm
by dev

Re: The next google incursion

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 6:29 pm
by paul1149
Thanks, dev.