Chromium, the open-sourced version of Google Chrome, has been found to be home to an extension containing a binary file which turns on users’ microphones and listening in on conversations – without asking for permission.
Chromium is where developers at Google test new extensions before adding them to their standard Chrome browser, which is the favourite of 37% of web users. The latest version of Chromium (version 43) on Debian has been silently installing this binary file, which is responsible for the famous “ok Google” function of their search app. This power over the microphone however, makes a change to the browser that has left many users unhappy.
Full story at The Independent newssite
