Google Home Mini Discovered "Listening" at Random Times

[engine]

Google's latest Home Mini appears to be listening at random times, transmitting data back to google's servers.
Google said it was a bug and has since fixed the problem with an update.

This is the problem with any device "listening" for the prompt to wake up. Clearly, the person that discovered this is technically savvy. It always makes me wonder how many other devices might be "listening" at other times.

The problem came to light when Artem Russakvoskii, founder of Android Police, found that his review unit was waking up "thousands of times a day" to send recordings to Google after registering "phantom" touches on the top of the device. The software update fixes the problem by disabling the unit's touch activation feature.

"We have learned of an issue impacting a small number of Google Home Minis that could cause the touch mechanism to behave incorrectly," Google said in a statement. "We rolled out an update on Oct. 7 to mitigate the issue. Google Home Mini Discovered "Listening" at Random Times [cnet.com]

[Swanny007]

As if it was a "bug", i.e. unintentional...

[keyplyr]

No problems with mine (although it's not the "mini.") It's worked as advertised and has continued dependably since I bought it a year ago.

Sounds like the "unintended "listening" was the result of someone who irresponsibly forgot to turn it off. Just like every other electronic tool, you turn it on when in use and shut it off when not in use.