Google’s deal for Nest turns off fans of ‘smart’ thermostat | The Compost Bin | Forums

what do you guys think, a viable concern?

SAN FRANCISCO — Paranoia or privacy? Some people are pledging to return their Nest thermostat now that Google is buying the company that makes the popular “smart home” device for $3.2 billion in cash.

Their reasoning: Buying Nest Labs could help Google Hoover up a whole lot more of our personal information to slice and dice for advertisers.

Google already understands everything about our online behavior — and that knowledge is what it sells to advertisers.

But Google has far less insight into our habits and preferences when we are not staring at the screen of a personal computer or mobile device.

Enter the Internet of Things, wireless devices that collect data in the home and can be controlled with a smartphone. Many people believe this represents the Internet’s next big growth phase.

Nest makes Internet-connected devices for the home such as thermostats and smoke alarms. It has a host of products planned to make your home more “conscious” by connecting it to the Internet.

Google says it will abide by Nest’s privacy policy, which limits how customer information can be used.

And Nest co-founder Matt Rogers said in a blog post Monday: “Our privacy policy clearly limits the use of customer information to providing and improving Nest’s products and services. We’ve always taken privacy seriously, and this will not change.”

But even anonymous data would give Google an invaluable glimpse into our daily lives.

And that information could potentially be paired with online movements, making the world’s most powerful search engine that much more powerful for its ability to ever-more-precisely target advertising.

Tweeted Ryan Block, vice president of product at AOL: “With Nest’s built-in sensors now Google knows when you’re home, what rooms you’re in, and when you’re out. Just FYI.”

Concern over privacy may not be the prevailing sentiment about Google’s deal to buy Nest Labs. But privacy advocates say consumers who are worried are not overreacting.

People should be wary of how much intelligence Google will be able to suck up and analyze once it completes the purchase of Nest Labs, said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.

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