The trust issue becomes a harder sell as far as I am concerned when previous incidents such as the Nest Guard security alarm having a hidden microphone come to light. Google has also stated, in that privacy document I referenced earlier, that it wants you, your family and your guests to, "feel comfortable using these devices and services, since their purpose is to help and to provide peace of mind." The trouble is that whenever you bring a "smart" device into your home, one with a microphone or camera for sure, then the opportunity is always there for your peace of mind to be far from peaceful when it comes to privacy issues as this case demonstrates.
#Google photo privacy policy update
We've since rolled out a fix for this issue that will update automatically, so if you own a Nest camera, there's no need to take any action."
We were recently made aware of an issue affecting some Nest cameras connected to third-party partner services via Works with Nest. In a statement a Google representative said: Google has, in fairness, fixed the issue with the Nest Cam Indoor it would appear.
However, I have never really considered that such a device could allow a previous owner to access streamed images from a new installation. There's some great general advice regarding smart devices in the home from the National Cyber Security Center here. I give the same advice to purchasers of secondhand kit as the factory reset gives you a clean base from which to start and can often prevent any technical hiccups that might otherwise cause problems during setup and usage. I have always advised the seller of any such smart devices to factory reset them before sale or disposal so as to protect their own data privacy, be that an Alexa smart speaker or a home security camera. A process that, as the Wirecutter report revealed, didn't reach as far as the Wink smart-home hub account. From what I can tell it would appear to be tied up with the Google Nest Cam Indoor not having a hardware factory reset button, the "poke in the hole with a paper clip" type of option we are all used to, and instead relies upon that somewhat convoluted device removal from the Nest account process. It's an odd and, as I've already said, very creepy privacy problem this one. "Going back to our Wink app," the report states, "we were also able to view a stream of still images from the Nest cam, despite it being associated with a new Nest account."
#Google photo privacy policy android
Even though the Nest instructions for factory resetting the device were followed and there was no access to the live stream using either the desktop or mobile app, nor indeed the Wink app as the camera was no longer online, things got creepy when the Wirecutter reporter created a new Nest account on a new Android device.
The cam in question had been signed up to a Nest Aware account and linked to a Wink smart-home hub. Wirecutter staff put this to the test using a decommissioned Google Nest Cam Indoor device and found they could, indeed, view a "series of still images snapped every several seconds" on that cam. As it turns out, while resetting the camera meant the new owner couldn't spy on the old one it didn't work when the roles were reversed. The Nest spycam problem came to light when the gadget site Wirecutter published a report on how someone sold his Nest Cam Indoor and then discovered that he was "still able to access images from his old camera." This despite having done the recommended thing and reset the device before selling it.
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