Google collects face data now. What it means and how to opt out | Hacker News Reader

Google collects face data now. What it means and how to opt out

cnet.com

80 pointsclose0421 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20932987

I think flagging this as dupe is overkill. Lots of people would have missed it 3 months ago, and perhaps some new-year goals include becoming more privacy conscious.

This is the meat of the article:

> Do Google and the others store my facial data in the cloud? Sort of. Although Google is quick to point out that face profiles are stored and processed on the Nest Hub Max itself, it admits that it occasionally pulls facial data to the cloud to help improve "product experience." Google insists any facial data that winds up in the cloud is deleted after it's finished processing it.

So I went digging around for a source to this claim, and found this[0]:

> Do Nest Hub Max’s camera sensing features ever send video or images from my home to Google? Yes, but only as part of the Face Match setup process, and not after you've completed setup.

So this is a no to "occasionally" pulling facial data.

0: https://store.google.com/us/category/google_nest_privacy

Nest is governed by Google's catch-all privacy policy. So the data they upload to the cloud can be used across the entire Google ecosystem. If you're using Google Photos, they already have tremendous amount of data on you, so this isn't anything particularly new.

This will, however, enable a new ad-targeting method where they can ensure the ads delivered are specific to the individual using an otherwise shared device.

Additionally, this "feature" can be combined with the always listening capabilities of Google spyware to definitively link your audio profile to your facial profile. This will enable Google to build an index of voice fingerprints, with facial profiles that can be used in the future in some capacity... like being able to isolate your voice in a room, once a camera detects your face, or vice versa.

This all can be spun as an "improved product experience".

edit-

there's no need to send video or an image to Google everytime, if there's a unique identifier mapped to your facial data. Only that will need to be sent up to Google and the statement you have quoted would technically be correct.

The cnet quote I still can't find a source for so I have no idea if Google even said they would use it for "product experience"; Regardless, that page I linked also states:

> In addition, we keep the video and images that power these features separate from advertising and don’t use them for ad personalization.

If they get all the facial data once (and don’t delete it unless explicitly asked to), does the nit that they don’t send it occasionally even matter?

I think OP meant that they do it all the time instead of the article's occasionally. The latter suggests you have a chance that your data is never sent which appears to be the wrong impression.

> Other devices require some kind of trigger, such as touching the screen or pressing a physical button, as with the iPhone ($900 at Amazon) when activating FaceID.

I mean not really, getting a notification or an alarm activating will also wake the screen and FaceID will start scanning.

If the user agreed with Google's conditions others who are entering the environment where the device is located might not.

I personally wouldn't feel at ease in a house with a 'smart' device that listens and sees everything all the time.

Those devices are a great way to keep some friends and family away.

At Christmas, I unplugged my parents Google Home Hub as a condition of my participation.

Did you tell them to all turn off their phones and remove their batteries, too?

If your business is selling data or access to customer eyeballs, anything and everything is fair game, unless there is some law or other obstacle in the way.

So does the Playstation 4, if you have a camera attached. I'm sure there are other devices that do this as well. But that is all the more reason to be aware of it, and decide for yourself whether that is OK with you or not. Hopefully the concerns will remain an active topic of discussion so that device creators keep making it an easy-to-change setting to turn it off.

I don't see what the big deal is. If you don't like it, just don't have a face.

Since when is HN becoming Reddit

Since before it was HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13852

> Please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Your face already exists in a plethora of databases anyway if you've existed the last 10+ years. I'm not saying you shouldn't be concerned but don't be mis-guided this is a recent development.

It's not. You as a human generate an immense amount of JSON data as you interact with the world until you die (and, possibly still after).

We're all just one big JSON object now :)

Cheers and happy new year, be tracked some more.

The recent development is that it now can happen in your home.

The recent development is that people started willingly install those devices in their own homes. There is "How i stopped worrying and learned to love the Big Brother" somewhere here.

> We're all just one big JSON object now :)

JSON aren't objects though.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com