GOOGLE AND YOUR DATA
Let’s be honest, Google’s main business is the advertising business. So if you fill your home with Google Home devices, will they be sending stacks of data to people who want to sell you stuff? Google says no, and its privacy policy – which you can read online at policies.google.com – goes into a lot of detail about what data it collects and what it does with it. For example, its devices may know when you’re coughing (that’s a real feature) but Google doesn’t then sell that data to your local pharmacy so they can try to persuade you to buy some Benylin.
ALL SHOOK APP
It’s important to note that those privacy policies only apply to Google: third parties may have their own rules. That’s why it’s wise, if you’ve been using any non-google gadgets in your smart home, to go into the Google Assistant settings and check what third-party apps are linked to your Google Home products. You can then simply unlink any that you don’t want to use.