I don’t know about you but I couldn’t help thinking of telescreens from Nineteen Eighty-four when I read this article about Google’s always on Nest Hub Max. The similarities are striking. The camera is always watching so that it can match your face and figure out what to show you. The microphone, needless to say, is also always on.
Google is not, of course, the Thought Police but who in their right mind would grant 24 by 7 surveillance access to a company like Google that makes its money from vacuuming up every possible bit of information about you so they can sell it? I don’t care how convenient those devices are, they’re not getting into my home.
It is, I suppose, easy to dismiss those who use them as clueless folks hurting no one but themselves but devices like the Next Hub Max normalize devices like telescreens. They move the Overton window towards more surveillance and habituate us to having someone always watching. Today they’re just a voluntary way of helping you turn on the lights or whatever. We don’t want a tomorrow where they’ve morphed into mandatory telescreens in the name of “keeping us safe” and from having inappropriate thoughts.
If you care about your privacy and don’t want constant surveillance to become the norm, just say no to the Nest Hub Max and all its evil siblings.