Google announced a week ago that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Nest Labs, the company behind the Nest Thermostat and Nest Protect smart thermostat and smoke detector devices.

Naturally, many Nest device users and otherwise curious parties wondered what the deal would mean for their data, and if and how Google would access/use it.

Google has a privacy policy in place (which it is being fined for in Europe) that enables it to share user data from one of its products to the next. Will Nest fall into this policy?

When the acquisition was first announced, Nest included an FAQ section in a blog post. One of the questions was: Will Nest customer data be shared with Google?

The answer was: “Our privacy policy clearly limits the use of customer information to providing and improving Nest’s products and services. We’ve always taken privacy seriously and this will not change.”

This answer, however, was met with skepticism from some, including those who think Google will just create its own products with the Nest team rather than continue with the Nest line itself. Officially, for now, the Nest products will continue though.

Further responding to concerns, Nest CEO Tony Fadell said in an interview at the DLD Conference that any changes to its privacy policy will be opt-in, and that the company will be transparent about such changes. He’s quoted as saying:

“At this point, there are no changes. The data that we collect is all about our products and improving them.”

The acquisition is still pending regulatory approval.

Image via YouTube