Nest included a hidden mic - who knew? - Google did & Senate wants answers

[exile360]

Oh woe to the privacy advocate, woe to the internet-aware, woe to anyone who deems privacy as a real concern and believes it to be a right rather than a worthless commodity to be traded for convenience!

It looks like that champion of user privacy, Google, is at it again, and this time the US Senate is demanding a response.  Apparently they included an undisclosed 'feature' in their Nest smart home security devices which users only became aware of once Google introduced new smart Assistant features to the device in a recent update in the form of a built in microphone which apparently had no other use and supposedly wasn't ever turned on until this late added feature was introduced.  How altruistic of Google to include a free mic with no purpose in the devices at their own cost just in case it might later become useful!

Well, it looks like some aren't seeing this undisclosed component in such a beneficial light and have a few questions for Google's CEO about this component's undisclosed inclusion.  Read more at the article below for the details:

The Senate Commerce Committee is demanding answers from Google CEO Sundar Pichai about the company's failure to disclose a microphone inside Nest home security devices - Business Insider