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Comment by croo | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if there are any google/amazon marketing people on this thread.

Anyway, you do think it's fine to put a device that -on a bit-flip- is able to record and analyze anything you say and inject ads to your daily routine anywhere and this bit-flip can be done anytime because it is connected and updated through the internet without any interaction. We should trust the makers because reasons. What can go wrong, right?

And all this privacy breach is justified for the convinience of not getting up from the sofa to order a pizza.

I don't even.

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> Anyway, you do think it's fine to put a device that -on a bit-flip- is able to record and analyze anything you say

Like a phone, tablet, laptop, Nest, etc etc? I’m not saying it’s OK, but Home was hardly the first mover here.

> and inject ads to your daily routine anywhere

This hasn’t happened to me, once. I can and probably throw my Homes in the bin the day they start doing this.

> and this bit-flip can be done anytime because it is connected and updated through the internet without any interaction.

Like the web browser you type all your concerns, medical symptoms, dinner ideas, street addresses, thoughts into completely voluntarily?

I’d argue that people tell google far far more confidential information via search than they ever will say out loud.

Yeah phones are essentially the same stuff. And it's definetly not OK and scary to not be able to trust a device you (have to) use daily.

> I’d argue that people tell google far far more confidential information via search than they ever will say out loud.

This last point made me somehow reconsider my stance. The profiles already built up by search queries and gmails are probably more accurate already than it will ever be with GH, it will be just another few datapoints to more accurately describe a random person. But I still think it's inane to put another channel in our daily lives by these devices.

> I can't believe people have different values from me.

I don't find it all that unbelievable. Convenience is a hell of a drug, and the practical negative impact on someone's life from this kind of service is...what exactly?

Are you talking about cellphones?

Yep, those are scary too. But with phones I can instantly connect to anyone on the planet and make photos and write up stuff I would otherwise forget and browse the largest human knowledge bases on the planet.

For this I have to give in a lot of my privacy and hope that I can trust the device/software manufacturers - meanwhile prevent what I can.

What does google home or amazon echo brings to my life that is so ground breaking that I need another data-gathering device? I may come off as ignorant because I probably am. But I'll reconsider if somebody seriously can tell me how vastly these devices improved their life.

Just like cellphones, it adds convenience to one's life. I can ask it to play an album or my favorite news while cooking or driving without having to stop what I'm doing to deal with a small graphical interface.

The killer feature for me is being able to add stuff to our family grocery list. It's so much better than opening an app, swiping around and typing on a tiny keyboard.

Once you get used to doing things via voice it's hard to go back.

>I wonder if there are any google/amazon marketing people on this thread.

What a convenient way to call other people shills without actually providing evidence.

I wrote what I wondered about and meant no offense. That's why I did not call people here "shills".

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