Weekly IP Buzz for the week ending May 24, 2019
Here's a summary of interesting developments in intellectual property, technology, social media, and Internet law for the week ending May 24, 2019.
An Evolution of Google Artificial Intelligence: Virtual Assistant Privacy Concerns
In a separate announcement, much quieter than the heralding of Nest and Google Hardware Teams uniting, Google announced that it would no longer maintain the “Works with Nest” program by the end of this summer. And, as an alternative, Google announced that companies are welcome to join the “Works with Google Assistant” program, which allows companies to opt-in to support technology of Google’s AI virtual assistant. But, what are the privacy concerns involved?
Out of Nest and Into Google AI: The Cost to Consumers
Devices that previously were “Nest-compatible” must now be, in essence, “Google-compatible.” Further, Google has announced that in phasing out of Nest accounts, it would no longer allow the creation of new Nest accounts. Google further “strongly” encourages Nest users to migrate their pre-existing Nest accounts over to Google fully, because it is likely they could lose access to upcoming features and future technical support.
Google says that the decision to phase out of Nest accounts is business-centric because it would be costly and inefficient to support and maintain two separate account infrastructures. However, privacy experts and opponents of the merge heed caution of virtual assistant privacy concerns. Critics caution that the erosion of such account division is merely another veiled move of Google to collect more information on consumers through Google’s virtual assistant.
The Virtual Assistant Privacy Concerns Increase as AI Integrates into Daily Technology
Some experts similarly point to the further entrenchment and integration of AI virtual assistants into consumer’s daily lives, noting that AI-compatible devices or systems are no longer limited to smartphones or computers but now also include refrigerators, security cameras and even cars. For example, the latest commercials running for the 2019 line up of Toyota cars all boast that they are compatible with Amazon’s AI virtual assistant “Alexa.” With such integration, wanted or not, virtual assistant privacy concerns become prevalent to consumers.
Read the full article here.
FaceTime Bug Creates “HearTime” Allowing Eavesdropping
As technology evolves allowing for easier methods to communicate, so does the concern for privacy with continued findings of loopholes, bugs, and coding errors. On the heels of Facebook’s last privacy breach, Apple has come to the forefront in news for their FaceTime bug.
Consumers Allegedly Brought the FaceTime Bug to Apple’s Attention, Getting No Response
An apparently loophole in the Group FaceTime function allows a caller to listen in on a call recipient’s conversation even if they don’t answer the call. The iPhone microphone enabled a caller to listen in on the call receiver’s conversation during ring mode as well as allowed the viewing of video through the recipient’s phone camera. Claims have been made by consumers of reporting the issue to Apple support, via various methods, receiving no helpful response.
While the window for “listing in” or eavesdropping on a recipient may be small, the bug has created significant consumer privacy concerns. So far, at least one lawsuit is known to have been filed against Apple by an attorney claiming the FaceTime bug allowed for the recording of a private deposition. Apple’s acknowledgement of the issue on January 28th came after the reporting of the FaceTime bug on 9to5mac.com.
Find the full article here.
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Darin M. Klemchuk is founder of Klemchuk LLP, a litigation, intellectual property, and transactional law firm located in Dallas, Texas. He also co-founded Project K, a charitable movement devoted to changing the world one random act of kindness at a time, and publishes Thriving Attorney, a blog dedicated to exploring the business of the practice of law, productivity and performance for attorneys, and other topics such as law firm leadership and management, law firm culture, and business development for attorneys.
Click to learn more about Darin M. Klemchuk's law practice as an intellectual property lawyer.