One of the perks of having an Android TV is that users can display their Google Photos albums as a screensaver when the TV is idle.
However, a Twitter user found himself in a predicament when his Android TV started showing private photo libraries of many other users.
As first spotted by XDA developers, the Google Home bug allowed @wothadei to check out the linked accounts of different Google users.
When I access my Vu Android TV through the @Google Home app, and check the linked accounts, it basically lists what I imagine is every single person who owns this television. This is shocking incompetence. pic.twitter.com/5DGwrArsco
— Prashanth (@wothadei) March 3, 2019
On top of that, personal Google photos of these linked accounts could have been displayed through the Ambient Mode screensaver settings. While the function didn’t work in the end, it still raises a lot of privacy concerns.
Oh my god. Private @googlephotos of strangers are being shown to me in the ambient mode screensaver.
SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK?! @Google @GoogleIndia pic.twitter.com/VbMmb3B2Qp
— Prashanth (@wothadei) March 3, 2019
Google has acknowledged the issue and is still trying to find the source of the bug.
In a statement, Google said “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.”
Meanwhile, Vu, the Android TV maker made a statement informing “it was a software malfunction of the Google Home App”. Another Twitter user, facing the same issue, confirmed that the problem is not exclusive to Android TV manufacturers.
Relying on Google’s instructions, @wothadei, later on, reset his Android TV. Due to which, he is now unable to access Google photos, even his own. As of now, he hasn’t been able to fix the issue.
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