American lawsuits over Google's Nest may not be viable, Judge Napolitano says
Google's Nest Secure home-monitoring device has an operational microphone - and it may be listening to you. The company admitted it did not fully inform customers of the device's recording capabilities, though it also claimed on Tuesday that the microphone was not meant to be a secret feature.
Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano called the situation an "outrage" that no one seemed to care about.
"Where's the outrage?" he asked FOX Business' Stuart Varney on Wednesday. "Is it just you and me? Where is the outrage? The public should be outraged over the fact that this follows me and listens to me - and God knows who is following with it."
For those considering lawsuits over the Nest Secure, Judge Napolitano had more bad news.
"It's different in the EU, where this would clearly violate statues," he explained on "Varney & Co." "In the United States it would depend on what was done with that recording. Did it just sit there? Was anybody harmed by it?"
In the European Union, a company that puts a recording device in an item without the customer's knowledge would automatically create a cause of action, allowing customers to sue and governments to punish the company. The U.S. does not have this rule in place.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 155.97 | +0.50 | +0.32% |
Judge Napolitano said privacy should be more of a concern to Americans, especially with top FBI officials - including former director James Comey - claiming that they cover their laptop cameras with tape and don't keep smart devices in their homes.
"Here's the head of the FBI, fearful that his own hardware on his own desk is going to be used as a surveillance instrument. You can imagine how the rest of us should be wary of this."
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Google acquired Nest for $3.2 billion in 2014 and its parent Alphabet merged Nest into its hardware group last year.