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Comment by john_moscow | Hacker News Reader

>With the Google Assistant built in, Max is always ready to start your favorite song, pause or turn it up, all with just your voice.

Does it mean that it's constantly recording every conversation within its field of reach and uploading it to Google servers where the A.I. could tell whether it's a request to play a song, a keyword to show you more targeted ads or an insight into your private life that could be stored and sold on later when an interested buyer shows up?

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The answer to your question is “no”.

(I would normally add that this could discerned by the most minimal of web searches, but I don’t want to disturb your narrative.)

Googled for details - indeed it looks like the device is using a wake word. Ironically, one of the first search results [1] was about a glitch that made the "mini" version actually record 24/7.

[1] http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/11/technology/google-home-mini-...

Please supply said search, I’m trying to find out if there is a firewall between Google Assistant and Google ad targeting but it’s very difficult to find anything.

The claim was "constantly recording every conversation within its field of reach", not if commands after "OK Google" are send to Google servers. For the commands Google's terms-of-service allow (themselves) to use data to improve any of their products and that includes personalization (advertising), so I doubt such a firewall exists.

mtmail already composed a better answer than I am capable was, and has pointed out that what you ask was not the question I replied to. Your question, though valid, might have been better asked as a top-level question. Your other top-level comment implies a position that you’ve already taken (and hence the downvotes for that post). Asked as “can some clarify whether or not...” rather “I assume bad things about Google, it’s up to you other folks to dispute it...” can go a long away toward getting a useful answer and reducing downvotes (thereby reducing your chances of an answer).

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