---
title: "Google: Secret Nest Microphone “Never Intended to Be a Secret”"
description: "## End of an Error"
date: "2019-02-20"
modified: "2019-02-20"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-secret-nest-microphone"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
  - "Google"
tags:
  - "Google"
  - "privacy"
  - "security"
  - "the digest"
---

# Google: Secret Nest Microphone “Never Intended to Be a Secret”

![Earlier this month, Google inadvertently revealed that its home security device, Nest, contained a secret microphone. Now it says secrecy was a "mistake."](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/google-secret-nest-microphone.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Nest/Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## End of an Error

People who use Google's home security device, Nest Guard, got some surprising news earlier this month when [the company announced](<https://www.csoonline.com/article/3336227/security/nest-secure-had-a-secret-microphone-can-now-be-a-google-assistant.html>) that the device could now be used as a smart assistant.

That was startling because Google Assistant devices use voice recognition, and the company had never disclosed that Nests had built-in microphones. Now the search giant is admitting they do — and saying its failure to mention the microphone was an "error."

## Telescreen

According to the spokesperson, the microphones were never enabled and had been added to Nest devices in case the company decided to implement sound-based features. The spokesperson described a hypothetical use to *Business Insider* in which a Nest Guard might detect the sound of broken glass during a break-in.

"The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs," a Google spokesperson [told *Business Insider*](<https://www.businessinsider.com/nest-microphone-was-never-supposed-to-be-a-secret-2019-2>) on Tuesday. "That was an error on our part."

## Ministry of Search

Google has a fraught history with privacy advocates. In 2010, for instance, it [got busted](<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/may/15/google-admits-storing-private-data>) sweeping up Wi-Fi data with its Street View cars. And earlier this year, France [fined the tech giant](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/france-fines-google-nearly-57-million-for-first-major-violation-of-new-european-privacy-regime/2019/01/21/89e7ee08-1d8f-11e9-a759-2b8541bbbe20_story.html?utm_term=.19a862e7d59d>) $57 million for privacy violations. And now, framing a secret microphone hidden in customers' homes as an "error," whether or not the microphone was active, doesn't click.

Google acknowledging wrongdoing is a nice start, but [there are no brownie points](<https://futurism.com/google-dont-be-evil>) to be had for framing the company's decision as an error only after it came to light anyway.

**READ MORE:** [Google says the built-in microphone it never told Nest users about was 'never supposed to be a secret'](<https://www.businessinsider.com/nest-microphone-was-never-supposed-to-be-a-secret-2019-2>) \[*Business Insider*\]

***More on Google:*** *[Google Wins Lawsuit Over Facial Recognition Technology](<https://futurism.com/google-wins-lawsuit-facial-recognition>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)