{"id":14013,"date":"2019-02-19T10:42:05","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T16:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/?p=14013"},"modified":"2019-02-19T11:28:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T17:28:54","slug":"googles-creepy-patent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/real-estate-tech\/googles-creepy-patent\/","title":{"rendered":"Google’s creepy new patent to watch your every move at home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if we needed another reason to squirm, it\u2019s been revealed\nthat Google has just applied for patents on devices that would place sensors\nand cameras in every room of your home. Why? To watch and analyze your every\nmove, of course! EWW. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of you out there with the tape over your laptop cameras\nmight be going, \u201cDuh, dummy. I told you so,\u201d but for the others of you who have\nwelcomed smart home devices into your humble abodes, well, we\u2019re telling you\nnow. You probably won\u2019t listen because even your toddler\u2019s addicted to making demands\nof the Alexa and Siri, but better late than never? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here\u2019s the skinny: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the excuse of \u201call the better to send you targeted ads, my dear\u201d Google has filed a patent<\/a> that would allow the company to mount sensors and cameras in our homes which would be attached to smart devices we already use.

The patent states that Google can “use smart-devices to monitor activities within a smart-device environment, report on these activities, and\/or provide smart-device control based upon these activities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if you\u2019re wandering around your house wearing a Game of Thrones<\/em> t-shirt, the sensors could capture this image and report it back to Google who would then start sending you targeted ads for the upcoming final season.

No, Google isn\u2019t reading your mind, they\u2019re reading your shirt because they can see you and now they know you\u2019re amped to see who wins and more susceptible to ads. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this doesn\u2019t creep you out, it should<\/strong> because it\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg. Google can also hear you \u2013 your conversations of an intimate nature, your crying jags, your fits of laughter. All of it. And what do they do with it? They sell your information to the highest bidder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, the information they gather is for Google to\nuse however they see fit and if you\u2019re wondering \u201chow the hell is this legal?\u201d\nwonder no further, it is. There are no laws keeping them from peeping. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just how are they planning on doing this, you ask? Well,\nthe patent was awarded to the development team associated with Nest\nthermostats. So, maybe you want to rethink that smart thermostat and cool and\nheat your house the old-fashioned way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look, we\u2019ve already given up our privacy. Facebook and\nInstagram track our every move, Alexa is listening to us, and way too many\npeople in tech have tape over their laptop cameras for us to be surprised by\nthis overture. As sure as winter, it was coming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, we may balk and say, \u201cWell, this is a bridge too\nfar!\u201d and it is, but it\u2019s too late. We did this to ourselves when we\nunwittingly invited them into our homes. Did you really think these\ncorporations had your best interests in mind? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, if the product is free, you are the product.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(TECHNOLOGY) This new patent confirms that Google’s technology is as creepy as you suspected…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":337708,"featured_media":2590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[525,1234,455],"class_list":["post-14013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-tech","tag-google","tag-real-estate-news","tag-tech"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/07\/broker-liability.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/337708"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14013"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14017,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14013\/revisions\/14017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}