How Google is secretly recording YOU

[Linville]

How Google is secretly recording YOU through your mobile, monitoring millions of conversations every day and storing the creepy audio files

DID you know that Google has been recording you without your knowledge?

The technology giant has effectively turned millions of its users' smartphones into listening devices that can capture intimate conversations - even when they aren't in the room.
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)][img=375x0]https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/nintchdbpict000324715280.jpg?strip=all&w=960[/img]
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[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)]If you run Android software on your smartphone, Google may have been recording you every day - without you knowing[/color]
If you own an Android phone, it's likely that you've used Google's Assistant, which is similar to Apple's Siri.
Google says it only turns on and begins recording when you utter the words "OK Google".

But a Sun investigation has found that the virtual assistant is a little hard of hearing.

In some cases, just saying "OK" in conversation prompted it to switch on your phone and record around 20 seconds of audio.
It regularly switches on the microphone as you go about your day-to-day activities, none the wiser.
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)][img=375x0]https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ad-graphic-ok-google1.jpg?strip=all&w=750[/img]
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[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)]Here's how Google Assistant stores what you're saying[/color]
Once Google is done recording, it uploads the audio files to its computer servers - often dubbed "the cloud".

These files are accessible from absolutely anywhere in the world - as long as you have an internet connection.
That means any device that is signed into your personal Gmail or Google account can access the library of your deepest, darkest secrets.
So if you're on a laptop right now and signed into Gmail - you could have a listen.
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)][img=375x0]https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/nintchdbpict000004800167-e1497144423526.jpg?strip=all&w=960[/img]
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[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)]Apple also keeps your Siri voice recordings - but it says it anonymises it after 18 months[/color]

Recordings last around 10-20 seconds on average, and a text version of the conversation is saved.
The Silicon Valley giant states on its terms and conditions that it keeps these recordings for "improving speech recognition against all Google products that use your voice".
After the Sun Online presented examples of the voice recognition flaws to Google, a spokesman said: "We only process voice searches after the phone believes the hot word 'OK Google' is detected. Audio snippets are used by Google to improve the quality of speech recognition across Search."

It recently launched a smart assistant, Google Home.
Mundane voice recordings from the general public will help its artificial intelligence that runs Google Home, by teaching it how humans naturally communicate.
In simple terms: it's a free language class for its software.

How to find out exactly what Google knows about you

First, you'll need to be signed into your Gmail or Google account.
Once you've done that, type "history.google.com/history" into your web browser.
You'll be taken to a hub which contains your entire digital footprint, so be careful, it could make for some grim reading.
This includes Maps searches and YouTube videos you've watched.
Click on "Activity Controls "on the left-hand side of the page.
Under "Web and App Activity", click "Manage Activity".

If Google's keeping tabs on you, there should be a stream of web pages and map searches that show up in chronological order.
You can randomly delete searches, or select all the searches to make them disappear.


But Google is, first and foremost, an advertising company and its largest product is a targeted advert service, which it sells to the biggest brands in the world.
Billions of annual web searches, location and email data allow it to target the population with specialised marketing - and there is no reason why it couldn't do the same with your voice data, too.

So, now for the important question: how can I listen to the sound files Google has from my life?
How can I listen back to the audio Google has recorded from my phone?

It's pretty easy.

Unlike Apple, who does not publicise any of the voice data it stores through Siri, Google is pretty transparent - giving you full access to your audio.

First, you'll need to be signed into your Gmail or Google account.
Once you've done that, type "history.google.com/history" into your web browser.
You'll be taken to a hub which contains your entire digital footprint, so be careful, it could make for some grim reading.
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)][img=375x0]https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/myhistory.jpg?strip=all&w=960[/img][/color]
This includes Maps searches and YouTube videos you've watched.
Under the tab Voice and Audio Activity, you'll find a list of recordings in chronological order.
Before you start listening, you might want to plug your headphones in.

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You'll have to listen to the cringe-worthy sounds of you buying a pack of fags in the newsagent or making small talk at the bus stop.
But there might also be all lots of salacious gossip that you wouldn't want anybody else to hear.
You'll be shocked to hear what it's picked up, however.
The Sun Online discovered recordings from when the phone's owner was not in the room - and even revealed a romantic interlude between two mystery colleagues.

How do I switch it off?
It is possible to stop Google from storing so much info in the future.
Go back to "Activity controls" and under "Web & App activity" you should see a blue toggle.
You can switch this off, but be warned. Officially you have merely "paused" the recordings - so keep checking back on a regular basis to ensure that the terms and conditions don't change in the future and you aren't auto-enrolled when a new Android update comes along.
Apple iPhone users aren't any better off.
The tech giant also stores your voice recordings to improve its Siri assistant - but you aren't able to access them.

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.I was rushing to clean this post up to be more presentable but ran out of time.

Found it very interesting and also the way to get into and turn off 

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the story link.

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A comment on the story is funny, but so true !

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This has been known for well over a year. I know, I actually went back to listen to my own voice! I used the microphone to do google searches while driving.
 But I set all my privacy settings to PRIVATE. Google still recorded everything. 
Tech sites will explain how to delete them permanently. 
Yea right

[Orange rabbit]

This is really scary. How,can this be legal?
OR

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So 1 more,question Linville. Does Apple do this to but people just don't know?
OR

[barq2]

It is in the terms of service (that no one reads and almost everyone just clicks "agree"). Would be interesting to see this tested in court.

The one thing I'll say in Google's favour is they don't make this secret. If you want to know how your data are used, or have access to them they provide quite a lot of information. It is better than Apple or Amazon who I would accuse of being more secretive. Google's blog posts explain a lot of what they do (and don't do). Internally Google talks about something they call "the creepy line". If they cross the creepy line for their customer base then they are in trouble. They know that. I think for anyone posting in this thread the creepy line has not only been crossed, but trampled into dust, but we aren't typical of the wider population.

Perhaps surprisingly I have a Google Home, but she is unplugged when not doing party tricks. It is a toy to play with, but anything done while it is active is essentially public. e.g. I'm not going to ask it for medical advice! The more sinister things are the devices you do NOT expect to be reporting back on you... webcams, hacked routers, spyware, wifi doorbells, etc

[Linville]

Yes Apple does it too as I understand it., OR

The article says they do it & talks briefly. I will have my eyes out for a better one on them

As someone mentioned they are more secretive about it .

[G.Elias]

Really helpful this post Linville, I wasn't aware of this bit of g00gle, handy that you posted how to switch it off, be handy if we knew how to do the same with apple as well.

[Orange rabbit]

All I can say is WOW.
OR

[G.Elias]

I now delete whole text conversations everyday from my apple phone, i understand that when I plug my phone into the PC and open itunes and do a back up and/or sync that everything including my texts are backed up onto the cloud thing, even when in itunes I have it set to back up to my PC only(always have done) but recently when I got a newer version of an old model I was able to retrieve everything including all my texts from the cloud.

This was when I first got the i phone and had to set it up as if it was new, it insisted I had to sign in to my apple account or otherwise I wouldn't be able to set up and be able to use the phone, it then downloaded all my texts going back how long I don't know, there's nothing bad or criminal going in my texts but still, they are supposed to be private but being with apple feels anything but, they are sneaky as hell the apple corporation, so now i haven't signed in for a long time, not used itunes, done as much as I can I think but they still are able to get my personal stuff.The phone is constantly telling me to share my location and turn on my sharing info with them or for an app i might open, why does an app that helps me tune up my bass guitar need to know where i live?
Privacy is not being turned off so they can snoop on me more easily.

I think they are breaking some law the way they run things, but they are in the pockets of government so will do whatever they want to do, all these major tech communication corps are doing the same thing and basically gathering info (with govt consent) which is used for god knows what and also makes them a fair few dollars I bet.

All the big tech,net, communication corporations had a meeting with Obhamas government and agreed to share anything the government wanted, that is according to Snowden, I trust his word over any of those heads of the big tech companies.

[Linville]

Yeah, GE they probably feed all that info straight to the gov. truth be known, yes I am jaded.

[Jjbreans]

I have a gmail account created specifically for email and was appalled when I entered my account settings and saw every transaction/website/ad, etc. pop in my history. I also found add-ins that I had no idea I had activated, let alone what they are used for. I tried to go into each section of settings and limit tracking and storage of my history but there are a myriad of settings that are just plain confusing. I'm hoping that they are attached to the account itself and not the particular device. I will go through your instructions in detail when I get a decent amount of time.

Thanks for all of the tips!

[reilli]

It was weird, the So and I have the same exact phone model but a while back his S voice (Samsung version of Siri) was always saying "I didn't understand your command" or randomly looking things up and blaring things out as though he had asked for something. I finally figured out how to shut it off but it was weird. His phone (mine never did it) was definitely listening.