Sonos app can turn a disabled Sonos One microphone back on - privacy issue?

I quit reading about the new playbar when I got to the mikes, no physical disconnect switch no sale here.

In my opinion having a mic on a product like a Sonos One or Sonos Beam is no different to having a mic on your smart phone - apart from the fact that your smart phone mic is not hardwired and is entirely controlled by software and so could be activated remotely.

n my opinion having a mic on a product like a Sonos One or Sonos Beam is no different to having a mic on your smart phone - apart from the fact that your smart phone mic is not hardwired and is entirely controlled by software and so could be activated remotely.

I agree completely which is why we have no smart phones here either.

n my opinion having a mic on a product like a Sonos One or Sonos Beam is no different to having a mic on your smart phone - apart from the fact that your smart phone mic is not hardwired and is entirely controlled by software and so could be activated remotely.

I agree completely which is why we have no smart phones here either.

I suspect that there are very few Sonos customers that don't own a Tablet or Smartphone...

I quit reading about the new playbar when I got to the mikes, no physical disconnect switch no sale here.

In my opinion having a mic on a product like a Sonos One or Sonos Beam is no different to having a mic on your smart phone - apart from the fact that your smart phone mic is not hardwired and is entirely controlled by software and so could be activated remotely.

For you this could be true; however, there are millions of people that disable Siri, Hey Google, and Alexa. This should, according to most hardware and software agreements, keep the phone from listening in all of the time. So for me, it's apples and oranges.

Again, it's not a stretch to expect Sonos to provide a product that gives the user a reasonable expectation of privacy. For me, Alexa enabled devices breach my threshold for what I'm willing to put in my home. This doesn't have to be true for everyone, and hopefully the Alexa camp will allow for those of us that have been spurned by privacy violations, to keep the open mics out of our homes.

How is it apples and oranges? Whether it's a phone, tablet, or Alexa device, the mic can be turned off via software configuration. Enabling a skill that is entirely about voice control makes sense to turn on the mic. If you enable siri, are you surprised that the mic is turned on?

Sonos one actually goes one step further giving you a visual que.

For you this could be true; however, there are millions of people that disable Siri, Hey Google, and Alexa. This should, according to most hardware and software agreements, keep the phone from listening in all of the time. So for me, it's apples and oranges.

Again, it's not a stretch to expect Sonos to provide a product that gives the user a reasonable expectation of privacy. For me, Alexa enabled devices breach my threshold for what I'm willing to put in my home. This doesn't have to be true for everyone, and hopefully the Alexa camp will allow for those of us that have been spurned by privacy violations, to keep the open mics out of our homes.

What makes you think you can't disable Alexa on Sonos devices? You most certainly can. In fact, Alexa is defaulted to off, you have to choose to activate it on Sonos devices.

Oh, and for those who think disabling Siri et al on their phone keeps it from listening, you may want to read this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5816269/Its-not-paranoia-phone-really-listening-you.html

At least Sonos gives a nice visual cue as to when the mic is on.

I quit reading about the new playbar when I got to the mikes, no physical disconnect switch no sale here.

In my opinion having a mic on a product like a Sonos One or Sonos Beam is no different to having a mic on your smart phone - apart from the fact that your smart phone mic is not hardwired and is entirely controlled by software and so could be activated remotely.

For you this could be true; however, there are millions of people that disable Siri, Hey Google, and Alexa. This should, according to most hardware and software agreements, keep the phone from listening in all of the time. So for me, it's apples and oranges.

Again, it's not a stretch to expect Sonos to provide a product that gives the user a reasonable expectation of privacy. For me, Alexa enabled devices breach my threshold for what I'm willing to put in my home. This doesn't have to be true for everyone, and hopefully the Alexa camp will allow for those of us that have been spurned by privacy violations, to keep the open mics out of our homes.

If there's mic on a device that is software controlled then it's technically possible to turn it on remotely, you don't need an AI enabled to do this.

Don't get me wrong, I understand your privacy concerns. All I'm saying is that you should have the same concern about laptops, tablets, smart phones etc. In my opinion, the Sonos One is slightly better than most devices in this regard.

I know I'm not going to win this argument with Sonos even if the answer is a couple cents for adding a switch.

I'd also be good if they let me open the device and snip a wire without voiding my warranty. 🙂

I'm in a polyglot household – a combination of Apple, Android, Microsoft, Google, and Sonos – so I'm familiar with some of the competition. Our Google Home devices have physical mute switches in back which spend most of their time in the off position.

I want to buy the Sonos One to add AirPlay support to my existing speaker group, but I won't do that if I have to _look at the device_ to make sure the mic is still off. That doesn't inspire confidence that I'm in control of my privacy.

Just a suggestion, but if you're getting a Sonos One for airplay support, you could simply skip the setup for Alexa and therefore the microphone is essentially disconnected always.