The idea of having a Smart Home is not for everyone. There are certain individuals who are still not ready to connect every aspect of their lives to technology - a Smartphone is enough for them, though. SkyNet is also a threat, but it's science fiction, so it's best to leave killer robots to the imagination.
There will always be a dark side to every story. Case in point: a Smart Speaker, according to Life Hacker, can collate your commands and send it to "random employees around the world" and say that it's "technological improvement." If this is not bad enough, the company who built the speaker can archive what you say to the device. In turn, they can use these to make your device "smarter" or add it to your profile.
The website previously issued a subtle warning to owners of Alexa, and now they're hinting at fans of Google's Smart devices to do the same and be vigilant of what they speak. The process they say is easy and users can even go further with the preventive measure and make Google from "creating an archive" right from the get-go.
Google's My Activity page will be the launch pad for users to start the process. First-time visitors will be greeted by the Search Engine by their usual flair, even to the point that it says that you're "in control." Here users can see everything that they have done via Google's extensive line of services.
If users want to delete their recordings, they need to click "Filter by date & product" under the Search bar. Here, users can, well, filter what they want to erase. They can delete everything at this point, but if they just want to erase a specific service, they have to click "All Products" and scroll down. In this case, users need to find and click "Voice & Audio."
Life Hacker said that scrolling back up and clicking on the blue magnifying glass will display everything that they have said to their Google Home device. To start deleting, users will simply have to click the three vertical dots found on the right of the search box and click "Delete results." It's as simple as that.
Users can also prevent Google from storing their conversations with Smart devices. To do this, they need to navigate their attention to the left portion of the sidebar, click the three horizontal lines and look for "Activity controls." Users will have to scroll down until they see Voice & Audio Activity." At this point, users can pause the service, but it "may limit or disable more personalized experiences across Google services."
What this means is that Google might not recognize your voice when you decide to talk to it. But if you're keen on this decision, then it's a go for pausing.
