MK19
March 17, 2017, 3:28pm
3
Cyberdemon:
It’s an ad, it was always inevitable, and you can be annoyed but you also should’ve read the terms of service when you signed up. Google drives revenue through ads and data. That’s why your Gmail is free, your search is free, Android is free, etc.
In the case of hardware, you bought a bluetooth speaker that “happens” to run their free assistant. If you didn’t want the conditions that come with the assistant, then you just have the desire to unplug it from the wifi and use it as a fancy paperweight.
I don’t think you have any more right to be annoyed than you would by them selling information about your email usage for ads, or using the mics on your smartphone to stream you ads, or any other number of deceptive ways in which highly targeted marketing uses technology to sell you stuff.
Do you have a copy of the manual?
I mostly agree with you - anyone buying it should have expected it. However, I do feel you should be able to pay more and avoid it. Why not if Google profit from the hardware in that case?