It was pretty obvious a decade or two ago when everyone started buying cell phones. I don’t understand why techies are just freaking out about this now. I’ve had a potential listening device in my home since 2001, when I got my first cell phone. Most of you are in a similar situation.
Having the microphone always-on drains a lot of power. You would notice it very quickly were your cell phone to transform into an always-on surveillance bug.
You're technically correct that cell phones leak all sorts of meta data that can be used for surveillance, but they aren't always listening. Voice assistants, however, are designed to be always-on and that is the key difference.
My phone is always listening already. Battery life is just fine.
Some phones aren’t designed to always listen, but voice assistants aren’t designed to record everything and upload it, so what’s the difference? In both cases, you’d need something that goes beyond the advertised functionality.
It's more a mix of both than an either-or. In the western world we can see Huxley's vision much more dominantly, while in China / NK it's not far a stretch to full Orwellian.
However, Orwell's envisioned surveillance apparatus is ubiquitous all over the planet, no matter what nation you live in.
