Computer privacy: Laptop microphones are harder to block than webcams

If computer privacy is critical enough that many laptops now include a physical webcam shutter, why can’t you do the same for the microphone?

It’s a question that PC makers should be asking themselves. Some, like Dell, say they’re working on a solution. But for whatever reason, reassuring customers that their conversations aren’t being monitored doesn’t seem to be a high priority, especially with consumer laptops. Fortunately, one recent model from HP signals a way forward.

Amazon and Google

A future where everything listens to you

Part of the problem simply may be the inertia driving us toward an era of always-on, always-listening devices. At their respective developer conferences in May, both Microsoft and Google suggested a future where a user would trigger an assistant with a wake word, and then an interactive conversation would take place naturally. Currently, assistants like Cortana and Google Assistant end the conversation after a single query. In Microsoft’s Cortana demo, the conversation lasted for several minutes. But there was no “thanks” or “that’s all, Cortana” to signal the end of the exchange and tell Cortana to stop listening.

Consumer expectations may be another driver. At least a subset of users seems to think that a device that isn’t always listening to them is in some way defective. Consider the customer responses before the other major assistant, Amazon Alexa, responded to wake words within Windows 10. (Yes, there are now two digital assistants capable of listening to your every command, built right into your PC.) Alexa’s inability to listen in was viewed as a critical shortcoming.

Michael Brown

Here’s the thing: Even if they buy always-connected…