Google Home goes on a defensive rant if you ask it about the CIA

Paranoid? Who's being paranoid?

Following the Wikileaks March 7 Vault 7 data dump, which allegedly details a host of CIA hacking tools, people have started looking at their internet-connected devices with just a tad bit more skepticism. After all, if the government can rig a Samsung Smart TV as a listening bug, then why not other in-home devices as well?

Other devices like, for example, the Amazon Echo or the Google Home.

With that in mind, people have taken to asking their digital assistants about the CIA. The results, well, are a bit baffling.

"Okay Google," a man asks his Google Assistant in a video posted to YouTube by Michael Hraba. "Do you know what the CIA is?"

After taking a moment to chew it over, the plastic prophet offers up the following gem of a response.

"No government entity, U.S. or otherwise, has direct access to our users' information. Respect for the privacy and security of data you store with Google underpins our approach to producing data in response to legal requests. You can learn more at Google's transparency report."

Whoa, Google. Defensive much?

One thing is clear: The answer confused at least one person in the room.

"What the hell is she talking," a man can be heard asking off camera. "I'm not even stoned and I don't understand."

This is not the only example of in-home assistant shenanigans. Alexa, Amazon's version of Google Assistant, has also been caught responding in shady ways when asked about its connection to the CIA.

Considering Wikileaks' claims that their so-called Vault 7 release of CIA information is the biggest leak in the agency's history — demonstrating that the CIA can essentially hack anything — we definitely expected there to be some sort of fallout. That the fallout came in the form of dissembling digital assistants, however, is certainly a bit surprising.

But hey, at least we know your microwave isn't spying on you.