Monday, January 15, 2018

Has your technology waived your privacy rights? (part 1)


Amazon's Alexa (or Echo) and Google Home are devices that many are putting into their homes. These devices have a speaker, a microphone, and an internet-connected AI system that responds to your voice commands. The idea is to hook this hub into various parts of your home, using it to play music, order pizza or Uber, help with recipes, check weather or traffic, translate languages, control smarthome devices, or even ask it random questions. However, these devices listen to all the conversations in your home, and this information is archived. Third-party organizations have access to this data and can use it to better market their products to you. Amazon and Google insist that their devices aren't constantly recording you—only after you activate their “passive listening” with a command word such as “Alexa.” If this provides any comfort about the device, it is important to note that police in Arkansas subpoenaed someone's Alexa records in connection with a homicide at his home. In this case, Alexa was being used to provide evidence in a murder trial, but how else might it be used?


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