Breaking Android TV Privacy Issue Exposes Your Private Photos and Accounts

[iDJ]

An embarrassing privacy issue involving Google's Android TV platform has been discovered by a user, who has shared his experience on Twitter. The issue appears to show strangers' Google accounts linked to the Google Home app, as well as give access to strangers' Google Photo albums. The issue was first spotted on a Vu Android TV, but was also seen by another user on iFFalcon Android TV. The Vu Android TV user has shared short videos detailing the issue on his Twitter profile. As reported by the user, the bug appears to show linked accounts of thousands of Android TV users on the Google Home app, allowing him to access the private information and photos of thousands of unsuspecting users. Android TV Privacy Bug Exposes Your Photos to Strangers, Google Responds

 

[Bapun]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1102089147596992512

Source

 

[iDJ]

I didn't post the tweet myself as the user was cursing.

 

[Bapun]

[Update: Google's Statement] Bug potentially exposes other users' private Google Photos on Android TV devices

“We take our users’ privacy extremely seriously. While we investigate this bug, we have disabled the ability to remotely cast via the Google Assistant or view photos from Google Photos on Android TV devices.”

Google spokesperson

 

[Sarkar]

sometime we need to ask ourselves do we really need smart devices everywhere around us ? I believe it's no.

 

[iDJ]

sometime we need to ask ourselves do we really need smart devices everywhere around us ? I believe it's no.

Give me one of those Nokia Symbian phone, a PSP and a 3DS. I will happily give up my smart devices for a week.

 

[Detective Conan]

I appologise its offtopic , Even in Amazon Alexa ( smart speaker ) it ended up sending personal voice recordings to another user it happened last year .. It seems inevitable , we have to be very careful how we use smart devices these days. we'll face much more problems in coming days as 5G internet of things is implemented. I saw in another news , due to Rush from manufacturers to meet demand they are not checking products flaws before dispatching it for sale.

Amazon sent 1,700 Alexa voice recordings to the wrong user following data request

 

[Bapun]

“Vu Televisions were recently informed about a malfunction of the Google Home App in an Android TV. After verifying the incident Vu Televisions informed Google who has confirmed it was a software malfunction of the Google Home App.

We thank our customer who brought this to our notice, and we can confirm that Google is rectifying their fault immediately.

Vu Televisions is known for its excellent and responsive customer service, and is the only television brand with an ISO 9001 service center.”

VU Team