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Gotta be kidding…
@lauren but what how surprising
@lauren Seriously? US only I guess? I don't see how that could possibly be legal in Europe.
@MatthewToadAgain Dunno yet about the geo aspects outside U.S.
@lauren @MatthewToadAgain Yeah I'd imagine that's very much illegal in the UK and Europe. Hope so anyway!
Is it an option that can be disabled?
@Defaulty The user enables it. The problem is that anyone around them sucked into it has no choice at all and no notification from the watch.
@lauren Is this only the new models or is this a software change that will make older watches also listen in?
@lauren I think I found an answer--looks like the new models, not the older ones. At least in what I am reading....
@LeslieBurns @lauren
seems to be a new software feature on watch 12 / ultra 4, call "audio Intelligence
seems to be off by default (opt in) "using ambient listening to power AI features like conversation recaps and "Live Rewind" transcriptions"
No Saved Files: The watch temporary holds audio in a secure, isolated hardware buffer called the "Secure Exclave" to transcribe it, then immediately deletes the raw audio
Not in the least better for privacy to process audio into text and delete the audio. It just reduces the bandwidth required to exfil.
Just learned that Smart TVs also process audio to test within 70 feet radius and send text to Corporate for analysis
@black @M0PWX @LeslieBurns Not really seeing anything particularly unusual in this case. As long as standard wake word and/or remote activation is used for voice activation, with local processing prior to that, it's in the standard model for voice devices (e.g. Google Home, Alexa, etc.) Network scanning is also completely typical for IoT devices. Of course dedicated hacking can often disrupt things, especially by local attackers on the same network, but remote hacks of smart TVs are indeed much rarer. Overall, from what I've seen, this is pretty much a typical "smart TV" with the usual pluses and minuses.
@lauren @black @M0PWX @LeslieBurns I'm not sure that many people realise quite how bad a "typical smart TV" really is in terms of the information it gathers, retains and forwards from what most would regard as a private space.
@rvkennedy @black @M0PWX @LeslieBurns It's usually not awful as long as ACR is turned off. Even if you use a dumb TV (or just don't hook a smart TV up to the Net and only use HDMI inputs) the streaming services, etc. are going to know what you're watching on them, by definition.
@lauren
Streaming services don't see my OTA or my local media player (kodi) usage.
But my Roku is very invasive on too many levels.
@raft2551 @rvkennedy @black @M0PWX @LeslieBurns Streaming services see your usage of each respective streaming service. Naturally, otherwise they couldn't stream to you.
@lauren @raft2551 @black @M0PWX @LeslieBurns I think any typical user would expect that. What they would not expect, even if we discount GN's allegations, is the documented behaviour of ACR. That the maker of your TV is scanning whatever you watch from any source to build a profile of you and augment their database for advertising and other purposes. With ACR if you're aware that it exists you can disable it. Would any reasonable person choose not to? They rely on you not knowing.
@rvkennedy @lauren @raft2551 @M0PWX @LeslieBurns
"Knowing what we watch" is a red herring. Providers will always know. It's about wifi scanning for nearby devices, audio eavesdropping, and general shitty shadiness.
@black @rvkennedy @raft2551 @M0PWX @LeslieBurns It's impossible to provide voice control on any device from ambient sound (Google Home, Alexa, all the others) without processing the audio data continuously looking for the wake word. I don't care what's held locally in the box, I care about what's ACTUALLY sent to their servers, and all the systems I know of do that processing on the local device and only start sending data out after the wake word is detected.
@M0PWX @LeslieBurns @lauren Looks like they also posted a document regarding how the audio is processed:
https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/Audio_Intelligence_Privacy_Overview_Sep_2026.pdf
@lauren One could hope those states, such as mine, ban their sale.
@lauren Not legal in California.