Re:Google says Nest’s built-in mic not listed in specs was n...
by illumin8 on Wednesday February 20, 2019 @12:07PM
(#19209564)
The company fully backed their decision. They did not have to fight anyone.
This type of product design decision happens all the time. Whenever you're considering component costs, you have to evaluate all of the options. You're mischaracterizing it as a fight between engineers and management.
Re:Google says Nest’s built-in mic not listed in specs was n...
by jlarocco on Wednesday February 20, 2019 @12:14PM
(#19209634)
That's not fair. First of all, the OP didn't say it was only "lower level engineers", it could have been the entire engineering team, for all we know.
And second, Amazon did the right thing and listened to them, when they didn't have to. They could have given the project to a different team, reassigned people, or even fired them.
Instead, they had the sense to listen to their engineers, which was the right thing to do.
Update to clarify reasons for this characterization: Parent used the words "refused" and "insisted," which strongly suggest conflict between the pro-privacy engineers and others at Amazon involved in the project. And "so that no future engineering team could decide to stealth 'unmute'" suggests a lack of trust in long-term company management. Nothing in this story supports the later statement that "Privacy of customer data is considered the most important thing to Amazon."