What were the Gossip Stones really used for?

[Sheiken]

They are surveillance stones used to spy on the people of Hyrule for the Sheikah. This is why you need a special mask to extract the info from them and when they fly off and explode they are executing protocol zero. This is where the info has been compromised and all evidence of it must be wiped from existence.

 

[Roger Rad]

maybe they were just used as clocks by the Sheikah o_o