Alexa is listening (and recording)

[kev54]

Watch out for new rules not allowing you to opt out of Amazon recordin and using your voice commands

Amazon Is Canceling a Major Alexa Privacy Feature on March 28: Should You Worry?

As Amazon prepares for Alexa's AI update, it's killing off a core privacy feature for everyone: Here's what that means.

www.cnet.com

 

[Jim]

I hate that woman.

 

[kev54]

I hate that woman.

I won’t talk to her.

 

[TheAleMan]

Don’t have an Alexa and I certainly won’t entertain one now.

 

[Shrimp]

Always thought Alexa listens.
We don’t have any Alexa products.

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[fishplug]

Paul Hibbert did an interesting video on the subject here (contains some puerile / toilet humour).

 

[Sneds]

Couldn’t live without her

 

[Two on Tour]

........ and you don't think that your phone is listening to you all the time.

 

[Tombola]

Does that mean when I say

ALEXA NO......I SAID....Volume 5 not effing 9
will be heard right for a change, if so Im all for it

 

[Tombola]

I hate that woman.

she heard that your goosed

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[mitzimad]

I keep talking about the bodies I've buried at the end of the garden in the ,so far vain hope, that plod will come round and dig it up for me

 

[pappajohn]

Repeatedly tell Alexa to f### off and keep her snotty nose out.
See what Amazon make of that.

 

[Lenny HB]

I'm surprised I haven't boared her to death, must be fed up with hearing about Motorhome mods.

 

[Lenny HB]

Prime is just as bad, watching a film and and an add for 3D printing filament came on. I though that's odd a bit of a minority product, them later I realised I had been buying lots of filament on Prime.

 

[Googlebot]

It can record all it wants, the amount of data is absolutely huge!!!!

It’s what they scan and do with the data after that’s important. They can’t analyse everyone’s manually, it’s like a drop in the ocean. Powerful AI enabled computers though, they can analyse everyone’s recordings in vast quantities and pick out the ones to analyse and use.

It’s mind blowing tech, but you have a choice to live with it and enjoy the convenience, or chuck it in the bin and not be concerned about it data harvesting.

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[Wildbill]

I won’t have one in the house we did have one when jay stayed with us but always felt it was spying on us.
It went in the bin not long after he left
And the silver foils cap we don’t them anymore
WB

 

[fishplug]

It’s mind blowing tech, but you have a choice to live with it and enjoy the convenience, or chuck it in the bin and not be concerned about it data harvesting.

There's a third option and it's on my "Nerdy tech" To Do list....

Home Assistant has been doing a fair bit around 'voice' recently and I've been dipping my toe into the world of home automation for my van based around this.

The idea is that all my lights and fans and some security features along with a CCTV system etc can be controlled from a single phone app as well as simply by using my voice to turn things on / off etc.

However this also allows you to have your own 'Alexa' type voice assistant, but one that's 100% private and works on your local network and isn't selling your data on in the first place.

The downside is that it needs a bit of computer nerdery, or a lot of patience and some attentive following of freely shared online guides. (I sit somewhere in the middle of those!)

I've always been massively sceptical of 'data gathering' - from smart meters to supermarket loyalty cards. If I can avoid having them then I will. Nectar have been around since 2002 - that's nearly a quarter of a century mapping your shopping and fuel purchases and building a profile on you.

It's part of why I'm picky when choosing the technology I have in my house. Alexa isn't welcome here.

 

[Hawkstone]

I have 3 and find her very useful…..however the oldest ones suddenly plays sleep,relaxation music every night at around 10pm. It’s very quiet and my husband can’t hear it but I blooming well can. I have to get up and tell her to shut up

 

[The Wino]

What exactly are people worried about divulging to Amazon that they don't already reveal by their use of Amazon accounts for shopping and nectar and other loyalty cards?

 

[Two Rivers]

BEWARE, Big brother is watching and listening!!

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[Carolyn and Kev]

Putting Alexa aside a little...how many times have you been discussing stuff at home, then gone on to the laptop and started to put in something in the address bar to search to find the drop down menu prompts include what you have discussed at home? Now that's a worry!
As Paul and Yvett have already mentioned...its all tech really!

 

[Pausim]

........ and you don't think that your phone is listening to you all the time.

Put mobile phone in back pocket and be sure to break wind noisily before saying anything important.

 

[barryd]

Putting Alexa aside a little...how many times have you been discussing stuff at home, then gone on to the laptop and started to put in something in the address bar to search to find the drop down menu prompts include what you have discussed at home? Now that's a worry!
As Paul and Yvett have already mentioned...its all tech really!

Not on my laptop but certainly on our phones. If we are watching something and discussing it and then go to Google it then it knows what I'm googling. I can't say it bothers me. Its kind of cool.

 

[The Wino]

Not on my laptop but certainly on our phones. If we are watching something and discussing it and then go to Google it then it knows what I'm googling. I can't say it bothers me. Its kind of cool.

I went to Screwfix yesterday and the bloke behind the counter greeted me with hello David what do you want today. I was pretty impressed he remembered I don't go that often. Maybe I should be annoyed that he's remembered my name and possibly some purchasing history!

 

[Puddleduck]

I keep talking about the bodies I've buried at the end of the garden in the ,so far vain hope, that plod will come round and dig it up for me

We are next in the queue for the free labour not to become the bodies.

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[Pausim]

I went to Screwfix yesterday and the bloke behind the counter greeted me with hello David what do you want today. I was pretty impressed he remembered I don't go that often. Maybe I should be annoyed that he's remembered my name and possibly some purchasing history!

Or do they have facial recognition software on their cameras?

 

[Carpmart]

I went to Screwfix yesterday and the bloke behind the counter greeted me with hello David what do you want today. I was pretty impressed he remembered I don't go that often. Maybe I should be annoyed that he's remembered my name and possibly some purchasing history!

Easy stuff, phone recognition and a geo fenced store with your phone identifying you’ve arrived in the car park! Facial recognition will be deployed more widely soon too!

 

[Larrynwin]

Smart TVs, kitchen appliances, and of course our mobile devices we carry around with us , who knows who is watching, listening ?
Hurty words to big brother

 

[icantremember]

I'm just glad someone listens to me.

 

[SpeedyDux]

It can record all it wants, the amount of data is absolutely huge!!!!

It’s what they scan and do with the data after that’s important. They can’t analyse everyone’s manually, it’s like a drop in the ocean. Powerful AI enabled computers though, they can analyse everyone’s recordings in vast quantities and pick out the ones to analyse and use.

It’s mind blowing tech, but you have a choice to live with it and enjoy the convenience, or chuck it in the bin and not be concerned about it data harvesting.

All those drops in the ocean add up to an ocean of data itself. All of which requires more elecricity for transmission, storage and processing. Which is crazy for so much almost entirely ephemeral and unimportant data. On top of that is all the social media cr&p.

[Weren't Data Protection Directives and legislation supposed to avoid this? Do the tech megacorporations really bother?]

Think about the humungous amount of electricity Amazon is using for the Data Center that stores all the Alexa recordings.

Not to mention those customers with Alexa gadgets consuming more domestic electricity just to keep her spying on them.

Alexa is creeping into new cars too. That, plus mandatory telematics ... Big Brother you can't escape. Even more energy required, looking at the bigger picture, it's about control, not freedom.

How exactly is all this additional energy demand environmentally Green?

How come we are allowing all this systematic invasion of privacy, and ultimately paying for it ourselves, one way or another.

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