The fact is that an end user should not care if software downloads a "binary blob" without running it. This is functionally equivalent to downloading anything from the Internet, a JPG file for example. Chromium downloads a bunch of things on startup, and nobody seems to mind. Just because hotword.nexe happens to be an executable blob doesn't really make a difference.
Whether or not people should care, some people do care. If Debian has to edit what you distribute to remove proprietary parts of it, you're probably not distributing something that is open source (which means 100% open source).
Is that the official position of Google? Reminiscent of when Thomas Hesse from Sony stated: "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
Great point. Sure, I get it. By that logic, sending me a mail bomb (and of course, not activating it, because I mean who would do such a thing after painstakingly creating it?) is the same as sending me flowers.