Aibu to be even more concerned about alexa

[Idobelieveinfairies2018]

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?

Sorry but I'm freaking out a bit right now. We have an Alexa in our house (which I never wanted). How can I check if it has recorded stuff?! I have had private conversations with friends and my dm that I definitely do not want my partner to ever hear. I'm panicking.

Just i magine 20 years time. Dystopia indeed... if everything you say is recorded...

I unplugged mine last week after reading about a glitch whereby she utters an unprompted 'bone chilling cackle'. Amazon are saying they've fixed it after lots of complaints, but not risking it!

Big Brother is watching you...

Really, really panicking here. Is there some way I can find out using the actual echo device (or whatever it's called) if she has recorded private conversations? Have discussed my relationship difficulties in depth with my mum and others.

@jeepsinbeepsfoxonbox
If you read the whole thread you will find out how to check. Or go online and Google it

Thank you preston. I saw about the fire tablet but afaik ours isn't connected to one of those... I will Google it.

I've just checked my Google Home voice history. Literally it is a long string of 'set a timer for x minutes', requests about the weather and my calendar, random questions from my child, things being added to the shopping list and the odd alarm. Nothing at all concerning.

Maybe Alexa just isn't very good at recognising her name?

I think ours might be connected to my partner's phone but I'm not entirely sure. It's definitely his Amazon account. Omg this is like my worst nightmare. I never wanted the bloody thing!

I will listen when my dh gets home from work on Thursday as he has the app for our echo on his phone. However, I’m not too worried about what she’s recorded that I say but interested to hear if she’s recorded anything juicy when we have had parties!

Love ours but it's not on all the time, just use it to play music and dc ask it for the weather and to tell jokes. When we're not using it we switch it off - do people have them on all the time?

Jeeps, won't your oh be fully aware of your relationship problems anyway? And if he's not, how are you going to resolve things if he doesn't know what's wrong? And if you're not going to resolve things then why does it matter if he hears you complaining/explaining? I don't get the panic, just calm down and put it in perspective.

@someknobend u can report me if u like if ur that concerned.
Ur comment just goes to prove my point that if some1 had heard it/read it then I could be in trouble.
However, as to ur accusation, no it was not too my dd (she was at school) and was in fact to my dog who upon arriving home i discovered, had not only ripped/clawed/chewed (it was that bad we haven't actually discovered how he destroyed it) my brand new lino to shreads, that my dh had done many hours overtime to be able to afford, but had managed get hold of dds chocolates and ate the lot.

Allowing a multi-national corporation to install a 24/7 surveillance device in your home which records your private conversations and monitors your behaviour, collecting information which said corporation can then do with as it pleases in order to make money.

You’re even paying them to do this.

What could possibly go wrong?

I've just checked ours and found the same as Lupiform.
Nothing concerning at all, she's only recorded conversations we've had with her (music, timers, weather/news updates etc) nothing personal or private at all.

I would guess either a fault or something Fire-specific. Our recordings are invariably me saying ‘Alexa, bedtime’ in an increasingly pissy time of voice (she’s not very good at going to bed, I blame DD for being a bad influence).

That said, there are a load of recordings of just a single click within s short space of time last Saturday, recorded on ‘Family’s Fire TV’ - we don’t have a Fire stick, but we were logged onto our friend’s. So something a bit odd was going in there, but not with the actual Echo.

M0ther I’m the same as you it’s always turned off at the wall except when in kitchen playing music whilst cooking etc or when we have people round.

It’s hilarious. Just looked at what Google Home has recorded (nothing exciting!) and found out what an utter sad arse list of song DH has been getting it to play!

I found loads of recordings on ours so I deleted them and unplugged it. No thanks!

The only reason it records you is to store to make it easier in future when you ask for things.

I’ve just checked. Mine are all ‘Alexa, play the Killers please’, ‘Alexa, please turn off in thirty minutes’ etc. Am I looking in the right place?

(And yes, I’m always that polite to her - I noticed the ds were starting to talk to everyone how we used to talk to Alexa so I starting being much more polite!)

Surely it's the same as if you looked at your internet browser search history but instead of typing you are speaking it? Do you honestly think amazon has employees listening to our conversations? My kids repeat "Alexa, tell us a joke" constantly. I'm actually concerned for the well-being if the employee listening in on our echo.

Yes, DD gets Google to sing her a song on a regular basis. All the songs are bloody awful.

OP it's not illegal to swear at your kids, so whoever you said it to I personally wouldn't think it report-worthy (although not very nice for your dog or whoever, but kids and pets can be annoying I suppose). My main point was, why so worried about a recording which nobody will see/hear, but you don't mind people knowing exactly what that recording said because you just told everyone?

@mother I clear our search history regularly.
Its not that I think they are listening just that some1 could be listening that freaks me out. I have private conversations with my dh all the time and we do so in our home because they r just that, private.
Wot if amazon get hacked? My TV provider actually sent me an email once to say they had suffered a cyberattack and could not guarantee that my personal data had not been accessed, so it does happen!