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AIBU?

Aibu to be even more concerned about alexa

111 replies

Idobelieveinfairies2018 · 19/03/2018 21:32

Alexa had been a discussion in my house for a while. Dh wanted her but I was slightly concerned with privacy and also a little bit 'what's the point'.
Dh assured me that there was nothing to be worried about and explained all she can do. So we compromised and he bought a amazon fire tablet with Alexa. That was at Xmas, however, today he said to me "see nothing bad has happened so can we get the echo now?" I told him I wanted to research it a bit more and have done so.
To say I am VERY concerned by what I have read is an understatement. I thought perhaps these maybe conspiracy theories or written by ppl who had something 2 hide. Until I stumbled across a link about 3 essential privacy settings and it told me how to check what Alexia is recording.
Anyway, I followed the instructions and was (still am) horrified at wot i discovered.
There were recordings at least twice a week since her set up, at times when we did not 'wake' her.
Most are ok ie the TV programs we were watching or random snipits of conversations I don't remember having, BUT there are a few things that have been part recorded that are very private ie 1 from yesterday was me speaking 2 dh 'I need to phone my dealer for my drugs tomorrow' (its not wot u think, I was talking about the chemist and its a jokey thing between the 3 of us to lighten things up). There was also an incident a few weeks ago where I lost my temper in fear and shouted at the dog and was quite inappropriate, but the recording is of me shouting 'For fucks sake u stupid c* daddy gonna go mad' Now that is going to sound to anyone listening as if I was talking to my dd and could land me in serious trouble.
I have deleted these recordings now but do u think I'm bu in my concerns or is this not an issue? Ie is she perhaps malfunctioning (I do know that I haven't been aware of her responding to these 'voice commands', even with a 'sorry I didnt catch that' so maybe she is faulty?) Or should I trust my gut and refuse entry?

OP posts:
BigSandyBalls2015 · 19/03/2018 21:33

WTAF!

SneakyGremlins · 19/03/2018 21:35

She's not great at telling when you've said Alexa and when she picks up on a random word thinking it's her name

user1493841671 · 19/03/2018 21:35

How did you find the recordings?

missiondecision · 19/03/2018 21:45

I will admit dh bought one of those ok google things and I am paranoid it listens to us. Your revelation is freaky. I’m going to investigate.

BrutusMcDogface · 19/03/2018 21:48

In the Alexa app, user. I've just pissed myself laughing looking at the things my kids have asked her! 😂

NotAnotherNoughtiesTune · 19/03/2018 21:48

It's actually aliens listening to you.

They are laughing at your terrible taste in telly shows.

Idobelieveinfairies2018 · 19/03/2018 21:49

@user On the fire tablet I opened the amazon Alexa app and then settings, followed by history and bam every recording ever made by us
X

@sneaky I gathered that wen I shouted 'for fuck sake Alexa u r starting to piss me off' lol not a peep or a recording.
X

@bigsandy Those were my sentiments exactly but I'm not sure if ur comment was for the random recordings or more the content of said recordings but don't want 2 appear rude in ignoring u.x

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ErrrrrNo · 19/03/2018 21:50

Its something to do with the fact that its always on and listening for its 'wake word', its supposed to keep the few seconds before the wake word and also a bit after the end (a bit like live pauses on a tvr) so sometimes ends up recording random stuff. There a quite a few always on devices that do the same, I found some totally random stuff on my echo dot! (or its mr Evil spying on you, you choose!)

Idobelieveinfairies2018 · 19/03/2018 21:52

Aliens??? Oh fuck where is my hammer.
Some of the things did make me laugh (something about 'fucking huge rockets in Texas' that my dh was talking 2 some1 about lol

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YouTheCat · 19/03/2018 21:52

I wouldn't have one.

Isadora2007 · 19/03/2018 21:54

Mine is very boring. Mostly ds setting his alarm and dd asking Alexa random stuff like “what was a mammoth” and “why can we see in colour”

RippleEffects · 19/03/2018 22:04

My DS's just got me themselves a Google mini for Mothers day. If it randomly records it'll have hours of 'you ask', 'no, you do it'
followed by some variation of 'hey Google, did you fart?' then a lot of giggling.

AdoraBell · 19/03/2018 22:04

I don’t trust these things, neither does DH. I’m not surprised by what you’ve found.

OrangeHorse · 19/03/2018 22:05

Ha ha just checked mine and they are all just us setting the heating and turning lights on and off Grin

Bundlesmads · 19/03/2018 22:09

Have you read about Cambridge Analytics today and the information that they harvested from FB to nobble elections?

Tech companies have been described as behaving like the Wild West playing fast and loose with the data they collect and telling governments to butt out.

The report also says that they collect data in new ways as technology develops and then governments are left playing catch up trying to legislate against new malpractice. And the development of AI was specifically mentioned.

Last week I would have said YABU, but after reading that I would say YANBU at all.

minimonkey11 · 19/03/2018 22:13

We turned our echo off after she butted into a conversation without anyone saying Alexa. Always listening- no thanks!

NoKnownFather · 19/03/2018 22:19

Recently I thought about buying one too....that is, until I started to dig deep and read reports like your's, then the idea went out the window. While I like to keep up with technology, I feel it may be 'too early' for something which invades your privacy so much, at least for me!

Anniegetyourgun · 19/03/2018 22:21

Alexa will never cross my threshold. Fortunately no-one in my household would try to sneak her in.

greathat · 19/03/2018 22:21

Mines only on when I'm using it for something specific. The main things in its history are my cleaner's music requests. Amazing she gets anything done she spends so much time asking for stuff

movinonup · 19/03/2018 22:21

Just checked mine and all seemed fine until there was a recording on 6th March of some creepy voice saying ''dead letters'' .....What the actual fuck??

BettyBaggins · 19/03/2018 22:23

No no no. But as much as I won't use either, friends do. One has Siri on his iphone, look at the table in the pub, they are bloody everywhere!

Idobelieveinfairies2018 · 19/03/2018 22:26

Scarily I have just been informed that in order to interact with Alexa on the fire tablet, u have 2 long press the home button and yet she is recording what we say without touching the tablet let alone pressing the home button Confused

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SomeKnobend · 19/03/2018 22:32

Isn't there more chance of someone seeing those things you said on here and finding you/reporting/investigating or whatever? Your ip address can be traced on here but the alexa recordings don't go anywhere. I'm quite worried for your dd tbh, what you said didn't sound like something you'd say to a dog. You probably "woke" her with "For fuck's sake" - sounds like Alexa (close enough) when spoken.

Idobelieveinfairies2018 · 19/03/2018 22:33

@movinonup now that is a hard limit for me I'm afraid. Dh is due home in 30 mins so I will be showing him the screenshot of the history b4 I deleted it and tell him she is not welcome in this house until I am confident she isn't going 2 b recording everything.
Anything u say, can and WILL be used against u, indeed!

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Overthinkingeverything · 19/03/2018 22:36

Oh god. I am completely clueless about anything technical.

We have an echo in the kitchen DS got for his birthday. ExH set it up linked to my Amazon account. I have the APP on my tablet but haven't looked at it.

Is Alexa recording everything said in my kitchen???!!

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