‘Alexa, what do you know about us?’ What I discovered when I asked Amazon to tell me everything my family’s smart speaker had heard
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The most concerning part about this article is that they put one in their nine-year-old's bedroom.
Based on the article, it lets her ask them things that she doesn't want to ask her parents, though I'm not sure that if I were 9 years old that I'd suddenly want to discover that my parents have a list of everything I've asked it and are reading through it, much less that Amazon has a database.
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In 2023, 60% of UK households had a smart speaker, up from 22% before the pandemic.
Jesus Christ. I had no idea so many people were buying these things. That's astounding.
If you'd asked me to guess what percentage of households had one, I'd have guessed single digits.
What is the absofuckingworstly scariest thing about this is that I've personally read quite a few sci-fi books, like in half of them, like in any universe, such things were usually a Trojan horse by the threat of the week to exterminate the good guys, or at least Palpatine's way of spying, or whatever.
OK, Palpatine's coolest microphone was decorative trees with skin changing colors depending on vibrations, and a very complex system of restoring the sounds from image, if I remember that correctly, in one X-Wing book.
So how the hell does it happen that such things are presented in movies and books and series like a threat, and yet people buy them?
I can believe in people loving touchscreens because touchscreens were unfortunately popularized in Star Trek and even, sigh, Star Wars prequels, and everything sci-fi.
But this is something that was being recommended against in such media for decades.
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Based on the article, it lets her ask them things that she doesn't want to ask her parents, though I'm not sure that if I were 9 years old that I'd suddenly want to discover that my parents have a list of everything I've asked it and are reading through it, much less that Amazon has a database.
Yeah, that is a terrible violation of trust. A parent should stop listening when they find out that they have a copy of such conversations of their child. They shouldn't write a newspaper article with citations about it
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In 2023, 60% of UK households had a smart speaker, up from 22% before the pandemic.
Jesus Christ. I had no idea so many people were buying these things. That's astounding.
If you'd asked me to guess what percentage of households had one, I'd have guessed single digits.
I got several free from both google and amazon. My electric company gave me one too.
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I got several free from both google and amazon. My electric company gave me one too.
Why would they do that
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Why would they do that
Because we are the product...
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The most concerning part about this article is that they put one in their nine-year-old's bedroom.
They work great as an intercom, if you have them in every. Room
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They work great as an intercom, if you have them in every. Room
Yeah, an intercom between you, your kids, and Amazon.
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I cannot comprehend people who agree to have a spy in their own home and they even pay for the privilege.
I have HomePods to activate my lights, and listen to the news in the shower. Sure, it doesn’t do all the fancy shit that Alexa does, but at least Apple has a track record of respecting privacy.
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In 2023, 60% of UK households had a smart speaker, up from 22% before the pandemic.
Jesus Christ. I had no idea so many people were buying these things. That's astounding.
If you'd asked me to guess what percentage of households had one, I'd have guessed single digits.
I have three unopened google pucks that I received as gifts over the years.
I had four, but I opened one to take apart to help identify if it was possible to hack it.
at the time it was not. the only part that can be reused it the plastic shell.
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Why would they do that
remember when Texas power turned off peoples heaters when they were freezing to death as Rafael Edward Cruz went on a tropical vacation?
yeah, they did that because those people registered their smart thermostats with the company and gave them control to set the temperatures in their own damn homes.
"smart" means, "you don't own it".
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Yeah, an intercom between you, your kids, and Amazon.
Alexa, why does daddy yell and hit mommy?
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Alexa, why does daddy yell and hit mommy?
Because you won't eat your veggies and make your bed.
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The most concerning part about this article is that they put one in their nine-year-old's bedroom.
To add to the other responses, and I suspect the real reason, is that Coco is listening to Audible Audio books regularly and/or music. It's mentioned and then dropped by the article fairly quickly.
Interesting how every comment on the article is doing the "you're a terrible parent, how could you do that" routine when I'll bet it's there because Coco either took the first one in or asked for a second one. Kid wants, kid normally gets one way or another.
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I have HomePods to activate my lights, and listen to the news in the shower. Sure, it doesn’t do all the fancy shit that Alexa does, but at least Apple has a track record of respecting privacy.
I sold my Alexa devices when the Sidewalk crap came out
Still waiting for a replacement for the Echo Show though, having a smart speaker with a display was handy at times
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I have HomePods to activate my lights, and listen to the news in the shower. Sure, it doesn’t do all the fancy shit that Alexa does, but at least Apple has a track record of respecting privacy.
but at least Apple has a track record of respecting privacy.
...to keep the same amount of data for themselve.
Don't kid yourself. Apple collects the same amount as everyone else does. And if either get hacked, it doesnt matter if they keep it or sell it.
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but at least Apple has a track record of respecting privacy.
...to keep the same amount of data for themselve.
Don't kid yourself. Apple collects the same amount as everyone else does. And if either get hacked, it doesnt matter if they keep it or sell it.
They say they don’t associate the data they collect with anyone. There’s no way to trace back to my device.
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Yeah, that is a terrible violation of trust. A parent should stop listening when they find out that they have a copy of such conversations of their child. They shouldn't write a newspaper article with citations about it
A parent shouldn't be letting their single digit aged child have unsupervised access to the Internet. Agreed that they shouldn't be publicizing it, but this idea that parents should be letting their kids have secrets when they're so little is one way dangerous adults take advantage of kids.
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They say they don’t associate the data they collect with anyone. There’s no way to trace back to my device.
"Oh yeah we collect data. Anonymously."
That has literally the same energy as some other user pointed out here about Valve and Gaben with their brain implant.
Gaben is the harbinger of light for many but us still a billionaire that got the money from somewhere. Thus is also evil. Just not as much as, for example, Bezos.
Apple is evil. At least equal to Google in different aspects.Stop cheering for anti-consumer companies.
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What is the absofuckingworstly scariest thing about this is that I've personally read quite a few sci-fi books, like in half of them, like in any universe, such things were usually a Trojan horse by the threat of the week to exterminate the good guys, or at least Palpatine's way of spying, or whatever.
OK, Palpatine's coolest microphone was decorative trees with skin changing colors depending on vibrations, and a very complex system of restoring the sounds from image, if I remember that correctly, in one X-Wing book.
So how the hell does it happen that such things are presented in movies and books and series like a threat, and yet people buy them?
I can believe in people loving touchscreens because touchscreens were unfortunately popularized in Star Trek and even, sigh, Star Wars prequels, and everything sci-fi.
But this is something that was being recommended against in such media for decades.
A Torment Nexus sounds cool
