Almost a decade after Infowars first warned that corporations may be spying on computer users via PC microphones, it has now come to light that secretly installed Google software is doing precisely that.

"The Chromium browser – the open source basis for Google's Chrome – began remotely installing audio-snooping code that was capable of listening to users," reports the London Guardian.

The software was designed to work with Chrome's 'OK, Google' hotword detection, which functions in response to voice commands given by the user – but in some cases the software was installed and activated without permission.

"Without consent, Google's code had downloaded a black box of code that – according to itself – had turned on the microphone and was actively listening to your room," writes Pirate party founder Rick Falkvinge. "Which means that your computer had been stealth configured to send what was being said in your room to somebody else, to a private company in another country, without your consent or knowledge, an audio transmission triggered by … an unknown and unverifiable set of conditions."