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by tharne 888 days ago
I'm always amazed that everyone seems okay with this, and will even say so when pressed on it. But those same people will get a look in their eyes as if they're going to shit their pants, if someone else picks up their unlocked iPhone and starts scrolling.
2 comments

I'm amazed that people are afraid of a home assistant in their living room, yet carry a cloud connected microphone+camera around with them all the time (with the added feature of sending GPS tracking data back to the manufacturer, carrier, and apps that you granted location permission to, like a weather app).

If you trust that your phone isn't listening when it's not supposed to, why don't you trust the home assistant (even if it's made by the same manufacturer)?

I 100% agree with you on this. And I don't carry a traditional smartphone for exactly the reasons you mention.
> If you trust that your phone isn't listening when it's not supposed to, why don't you trust the home assistant

Do home assistants claim they are not listening when they are not supposed to?

It's because they have sexts on their phone. A recorder is not as big of a deal. Especially if I'm fully aware that the entity listening to the recording is listening to billions of people and couldn't care less about my one voice.