Google to buy 6.6% stake in ADT in home security push

Lots of the comments don't trust Google, but I'm not sure I would trust ADT. I was looking to buy a house, which had an ADT system installed. I just called them up, asked about the address, how much monitoring would cost, etc. and they told me what kind of panel, sensors, etc. were installed at the house. No verification at all. Clearly this would help with their sales, but from the perspective of someone who owns the system; I would not want them to give out details of my security system to anyone.

(Googler, opinions are my own)<p>I wonder what this says for the Google&#x2F;Nest Security product future. The existing Nest Secure[0] is a well designed product, but also rather limiting (only one base unit, which is frustrating for houses with multiple entrances, or large houses). The Nest Secure was released ~3 years ago, and there have been some minor feature improvements, but no hardware additions or changes.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;store.google.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;product&#x2F;nest_secure_alarm_system" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;store.google.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;product&#x2F;nest_secure_alarm_system</a>

Seems like a bad idea to me. But I&#x27;m someone who would never use or recommend ADT in the first place. People don&#x27;t seem to realize... You can run your own serious alarm system (DSC is a great brand) and then self-monitor with devices like the Envisalink. This integrates with Home Assistant too. All the awesome functionality for $0&#x2F;mo.

ADT’s pricing and go-to-market approach is draconian in 2020. Long term contracts, expensive equipment, and high pressure sales tactics couldn’t be any different than my experience with a Nest home security system. Will be interesting to see if and how ADT evolves because of the ownership stake.

I am fascinated at the anti-Google attitude here.<p>Why exactly do you think some other home security company would not also use your data? Except they will secure it poorly with a default password.

Wow. Crazy. Google is starting to leverage their position. They now selling 12.8x this buy in corporate bonds. I think this is the beginning of many plays by Google&#x2F;Alphabet.<p>[1] - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;zerohedge&#x2F;status&#x2F;1290338641919856640" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;zerohedge&#x2F;status&#x2F;1290338641919856640</a>

There was an article where they interviewed a bunch of burglars and asked them the best way to secure your house. First they listed off all the things that don&#x27;t work, like alarms and cameras. Then they said:<p>- Number one, have a TV on. If they see a TV on they assume people are home and watching.<p>- Get a big dog. If they have to choose between a house with a dog and one without, they&#x27;ll chose the one without.<p>- Get motion activated security lights. Always-on lights just provide extra light for breaking in, the motion sensors draw attention (although most robberies happen during the day so it&#x27;s sort of a moot point).

I haven&#x27;t seen anyone posting, but on the ADT investors relations website there is a presentation [1] and [2] webcast outlying the M&amp;A rationale.<p>Briefly speaking, it is to be expected product integration (starting with Google Cloud for ADT video) and in the future some &#x27;automation&#x27; and newer products.<p>By the way, can there be any &#x27;synergies&#x27; between ADT and Fitbit?<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;s22.q4cdn.com&#x2F;631128414&#x2F;files&#x2F;doc_presentations&#x2F;2020&#x2F;08&#x2F;ADT-Google-Partnership-08.03.2020-Final.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;s22.q4cdn.com&#x2F;631128414&#x2F;files&#x2F;doc_presentations&#x2F;2020...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;investor.adt.com&#x2F;events-and-presentations&#x2F;events-calendar&#x2F;event-details&#x2F;2020&#x2F;ADT-Partnership-Announcement-Conference-Call&#x2F;default.aspx" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;investor.adt.com&#x2F;events-and-presentations&#x2F;events-cal...</a>

I get it, it makes business sense - that’s a huge install base to push smart home products to.<p>At the same time, I would have a hard time naming a company that I’d trust <i>less</i> to integrate into my home security than Google.<p>Privacy, (lack of) customer service, service continuity...I know these aren’t issues that would worry most consumers but they would all be on my mind.

I like Google. The search engine is amazing. BigQuery is awesome — it’s really something only a Google could pull off — but, but, I think this might be DOA for the same reasons that make Google search and ads so good: the data. I don’t want Google in my home like this with a view of everything coming in and going out (yes yes they can already see the amazon orders in my gmail account, but still) or who is coming or going.

One thing missing in this area is a low cost combined alarm and home automation. Some have nice home automation (Smart Things, for example), others have a nice alarm system (Ring). But nobody has a good combination of both together. At least part of the problem is that the alarm system does not want to trust third party devices for triggering the alarm. This means that they are treated as second class citizens.<p>So an example of this is that I have water monitors and a water main shutoff valve that works with Smart Things. But Smart Things doesn&#x27;t have an alarm, and Ring doesn&#x27;t support the water monitor and shutoff valve..<p>Not sure I&#x27;m happy with ADT, since they are expensive (per month monitoring). But they do have name brand recognition.

I had bought a new Nest thermostat and was going to install it at about the time that Google went from having different things Nest-integrated to having them be Google-integrated. I chose to sell my thermostat to somebody and buy an Ecobee specifically because Ecobee wasn&#x27;t owned by Google or Amazon.<p>So far Amazon seems like its treating its acquisitions better as far as customers are concerned. Ecobee does make a model with Alexa built-in but I got an older one that doesn&#x27;t have that.<p>I am really tempted to buy some Eufy 2K cameras, which I hear are decent quality and integrate with Homekit. Apple has tougher security requirements than Google or Amazon and the products that meet it seem better, even if more expensive.

Interesting. 6.6% seems like a pretty insignificant investment. Does anybody have any idea what 6.6% could really get them?

Remember: Google doesn&#x27;t think they&#x27;re invading your privacy when <i>they</i> are making money on it. It&#x27;s only a violation of privacy if <i>their competition</i> is making money on your privacy.

ADT and other American security is broken. They are missing the hard part of an active security system: response.<p>In Japan there is a company called Secom. This company has a near monopoly on security systems. They have this monopoly because instead of just calling the cops they have staff on patrol who respond to alarms. You can imagine the install base moat required to have active personal patroling constantly.<p>The end result is alarms get checked. Every time we mis-unlocked our office a Secom person would stop by soon after to check. No idle phone calls from a phone center, the staff checked the premise themselves.<p>Of course similar services must exist in the states for businesses, but without the install base they cannot be priced reasonable for home use. Secom is used everywhere, from uppper class homes to museums.

Google&#x27;s blog post <i>A partnership with ADT for smarter home security</i> [1]<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.google&#x2F;products&#x2F;google-nest&#x2F;partnership-adt-smarter-home-security&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.google&#x2F;products&#x2F;google-nest&#x2F;partnership-adt-sma...</a>

I&#x27;m on a &quot;low Google diet&quot; myself as I&#x27;m not at all a fan of how my data gets scooped up and resold.<p>That being said, while I disagree with their business practices, I think their information security is one of the best. For contrast, imagine Equifax running your home security... :)

For those &quot;loving&quot; the ADT home security commercials, check out the story of &quot;Blue (Da Ba Dee)&quot; by Eiffel 65 <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;epnsRRPtoeU" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;epnsRRPtoeU</a>

Google is an awful service provider. Ever had a Gmail account get hijacked? Good luck getting it back. Google doesn&#x27;t give a crap about helping its &quot;customers&quot; because its products are free so they have this awful take it or leave it attitude. You can&#x27;t rely on that. They did the same thing to Nest. They&#x27;d change your thermostat and shut things down, potentially at your home&#x27;s risk. Just a really careless and inconsiderate company who I avoid doing business with.

Get a fumigation sign. The skull and crossbones and threat of death by toxic asphyxiation will keep all but the most determined burglar away.Few burglars go out on a job with respirators. Add a bit about asbestos being found &quot;on site.&quot; An ADT sign is nothing but an &quot;all clear.&quot; The police won&#x27;t help, they&#x27;re too busy selling drugs, forfeiting automobiles and investigating possible misdemeanor counterfeit bill passing cases.

Huh, looks like Google used to offer a cellular-based backup option, but cut it off a few months ago. Some folks were upset that the only way to get that now is to pay Brinks ($29&#x2F;mo or $20&#x2F;mo with 3-yr contract).<p>I assume the Brinks deal will be phased out and ADT will replace it? Given what people are saying about ADT&#x27;s pricing, hopefully their offer will be no more expensive than Brinks&#x27;.

One of my biggest worries with this is that it will shut ADT off to all future integrations outside of the Google ecosystem.<p>I believe that if ADT wants to stay competitive, they would hugely benefit from a swath of integrations with different vendors doing different things to allow for a modular home security experience.<p>I&#x27;m not sure that partnering with Google really accomplishes that... at least not on its own.

Be a hell of a thing to discover they shut the division down two years later just as someone comes through the window.

Unfortunately ADT is the worst security company out there or in the US for that matter. Garbage.

&quot;Home&quot; security? ADT has cameras, door sensors, medical alerting &quot;pendandts&quot; etc. installed in many more places than private homes. This deal seems more about sensors and new streams of incoming data for Google.

Neutral news. I just hope this results in new products launching quickly. The nest Yale partnership is disappointing to say the least. Despite the naysayers, this can be a successful step in the right direction for nest as an ecosystem

Well great, if the thief carries a android phone for the first time in history of mankind google would be able to run machine learning algos to predict where the crime is going to be committed. &#x2F;s<p>personally I would be more worried about ADT getting google data. plus ADT has tie-ins with many police depts. this could go south really fast from here. Also, google already has fitbit data so google is slowly spreading its tentacles into our life in real world much more so than FB.<p>honestly I feel like I need to minimize my google usage right-bloody-now. a slightly better web search is not worth all that shit it comes with.

ADT came pre-installed in my house. I deactivated it, and want to remove it fully, but I haven’t gotten around it.

If Google pursued github and tiktok like msft I&#x27;ll be more optimistic. ADT? Not sure what they wanted here...

Pushing spy tools into more places, yuck.

Telus in Canada bought ADT Canada to add to their line of home security and home health monitoring.

ADT is a near scam home security company who force you into signing aggressive 3 yr contracts

Home Security Systems are largely marketing gimmicks.<p>I wonder if any of Google&#x27;s large &quot;diversification&quot; pushes have yielded success?

If you&#x27;re planning on doing away with public police, private home security is going to be BIG business.

This makes me uncomfortable

Ring ring. Seriously, who doesn&#x27;t think this is because of the popularity of the Ring ecosystem?

Well there goes me buying any ADT security products

one of Google&#x27;s best idea.

Potentially a questionable investment with the police being abolished?

Will they tank this like Nest and the prior home HW vendors.<p>Google is a data mining company. Nothing more, noting less. We are the product. You are stupid to allow them into your home.