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Google Nest forcing status light on

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by AroundTheWorld, Aug 15, 2019.

  1. AroundTheWorld

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  2. CCity Zero

    CCity Zero Member

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    I haven't looked up teardowns or even schematics since I don't own one.. But wonder other than electrical tape if you could add like a different led/bypass/resistor etc etc on the board itself. That's probably more work than it's worth (depending on how long you keep it etc.), so typically tape is probably the easiest (I've used several strips of electrical (like if using a non black one) or painters tape to make some battery backups less aggressive/block them out entirely. Like some lately have some insane blue leds... I liked the painters tape because it doesn't leave residue like electrical tape can.


    I can see why they did it, but it's good/bad depending on circumstances, but if it's changeable by them through sw/fw then it certainly can be reversed by someone else for malicious intent. I think it sucks when you own a product and features are removed when you had legitimate uses for them.

    Anyway... Other than that was it working pretty well for you? I want to eventually get nest or something similar in my garage. My fear is people somehow "borrowing" stuff late at night from my garage. I have a decent collection of tools that'd it at least be a nice deterrent vs having to go through insurance.
     
  3. AroundTheWorld

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  4. AroundTheWorld

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    Yung-T, Nook, CCity Zero and 2 others like this.
  5. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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  6. AroundTheWorld

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    It's much worse than that, actually. He is so presumptuous from his standpoint of Silicon Valley arrogance that the fact that someone paid for his product doesn't matter to him. He wants to have the right to make detrimental changes to the product after the customer has already bought it and paid for it. "You paid for the product? You are the owner? Tough luck, I'm gonna do with it what I want, because I work at Google." Someone clearly in over his head.

    This is his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishic1/

    What a freaking douchebag.

    This is even worse than Amazon deciding to just delete books from people's Kindles after they paid for them.

    But it just got better - I now got this second mail - this guy is really doubling down on stupid:

     
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  7. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    [​IMG]

    Rocket River
     
  8. dmoneybangbang

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    IDK....

    I can see the side of the OP and I can see why people should be aware when they are being recording. Seems like a better solution can be found, but maybe not? There's so many different devices that are and will be invading your privacy without or without you knowing it.
     
  9. AroundTheWorld

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    The threat to privacy comes from Google eavesdropping on our conversations, not from me using a device I own and paid for according to its marketed specifications at the time I fully paid for it, in my own home.

    It's all about the reasonable contractual expectation of privacy - I have a reasonable contractual expectation that if I use Google assistant, no other humans will have access to my private and personal conversations (but they do!) - on the other hand, it is not Google's responsibility or authority to enforce their views on how I need to make third parties aware of my use of a security camera in my own home.

    Google's behavior here is incredibly paternalistic and arrogant: "We will enforce our view of how you should be using a product you already fully paid for, by infringing on your property rights, because we think we have a right to control how you respect other people's privacy within your own home". There are so many things wrong with that attitude.

    And yes, they reserve the right to do that, in their TOS, but at the very least in Europe, these TOS are not legally valid and a challenge in court would be successful.
     
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  10. dmoneybangbang

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    Right, but what about a visitor or repairman in your house? Do they have the right to know? I certainly empathize with this issue but maybe I'm thinking in a broader sense that goes beyond just the context at hand.
     
  11. AroundTheWorld

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    Whether they have a right to know is an issue between me and them, while they are in my house.

    I believe the issue partly became a perceived problem for certain people in Google management because of reports of AirBnB hosts secretly recording their guests. But you just don't mess with paid for and owned property of all your customers because of transgressions of a few.

    It is by far overreaching for Google to think they can dictate that against my will by removing marketed functionality, after I fully paid for the product, based on the marketed specifications at the time.

    (In practice, I don't hide the cameras and I make people (like the nannies, or cleaners) aware of them. It's just that these lights are really irritating to my children. I have ordered some electrical tape to cover the damn status light.)
     
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  12. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    This thread and your avatar. I can't stop laughing. lol.

    True story : the co-founder of Dropcam (bought out by Nest and I guess is now the Nest Cam Indoor) was a user on this forum.
     
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  13. Haymitch

    Haymitch Custom Title
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    Such is the problem with any smart device; the device itself is just an interface through which the company (Google, in this case) gets their desired ROI: your personal data. And it will only get worse before it gets better (if it ever gets better).

    Recent book out on this. I saw the author get interviewed on CSPAN. Worth a watch and somewhere on CSPANs site.

     
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  14. PhiSlammaJamma

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    Technically, you hold all the cards if a smart device is spying on you and you know it. It's when you dpn't know that they hold all the cards. The power id with you. Use it against them and they'll make a movie about you. A good spy would use this to turn the tables.
     
  15. Invisible Fan

    Invisible Fan Contributing Member

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    I don't use corporate listening devices other than my phone.

    If I did, id try to rout all communications through a filter. There's probably something out there for that but I haven't been forced to want a robot helper other than my phone
     
  16. LosPollosHermanos

    LosPollosHermanos Houston only fan
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    Google is pretty shitty, they’ve made it impossible to contact them about any of their services, Gmail, YouTube, etc.

    Unless it’s paying for advertising
     
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  17. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    Could be worse...

    You could have just saved up enough money to finally buy Thunder season-tickets, then within the next week they traded Paul George and Westbrook.
     
  18. Invisible Fan

    Invisible Fan Contributing Member

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    They probably give out free Nests as a thank you gift.

    Suicide watch is a drag on the fanbase...
     
  19. PhiSlammaJamma

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    Apparently, the owl community is quite pissed too.

     
    KingCheetah, AroundTheWorld and B-Bob like this.
  20. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    Meanwhile, in the @AroundTheWorld residence...
     

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