MOUNTAIN VIEW, Kalifornia (PNN) - May 11, 2024 - There is a hidden feature in users' Google accounts that lets the tech giant quietly record voices that it stores for other uses.
Google saves the audio recordings from web and app activity, along with verbal interactions with Search, Assistant and Maps, which it uses to develop and improve its audio recognition technologies.
However, a tech expert recently shared a “cheat code” that he says will stop Google from recording your smartphone activity.
Users need to manage their Google accounts and unselect options in “Data and Privacy”, which will block the tech company from accessing your microphone and camera.
Tech entrepreneur Jeffrey Castillo posted a video on Instagram, explaining that users can turn off this function by going to the Google app and clicking on “Manage your Google account”.
From there, select the “Data and Privacy” tab and scroll down to “History setting” and select the “Web and App activity” section, which you'll see has a blue checkmark.
Once you click in and scroll down, you should notice that the voice and audio activity setting has a blue checkmark- uncheck that to put a stop to Google listening in to your device.
The way Google continues to pick up on conversations is a verbal version of a search engine, and each time it receives a “Hey Google” command, it creates the same effect as opening a browser window.
“When this voice and audio activity setting is off, audio recordings from voice interactions with Google Search, Assistant, and Maps won't be saved to your Google Account on Google servers, even if you're signed in,” Google has shared. “If you turn off this voice and audio activity setting, previously saved audio is not deleted. You can delete your audio recordings at any time.”
Google has claimed it only listens in to snippets of conversations to pick up “wake words” that it was programmed to recognize, allowing it to respond to voice commands.
“Google never tailors ads to people based on what they say over the phone,” an unnamed Google spokesman told DailyMail.com. “People are always in control of how information they share with Google is used for advertising and can change their settings any time.”
Although Google and other companies like Amazon and Apple argue that their assistant devices including Alexa and Siri only listen for commands and marketing efforts, the reality is that it still poses a major privacy concern for users.
If cybercriminals access your account or tap into your smart devices, they could listen to phone recordings and steal information from Google's stored data.
Other steps you can take to protect yourself include verifying the apps you download to make sure they are from official stores rather than third parties that could contain malware, and review app permissions to turn off access to your phone's microphone.
Norton, a cybersecurity application, suggested that people delete their voice request history so there isn't a memory bank of your conversations, use a VPN to encrypt your information so it can't be accessed by third parties, and keep your software up to date.
