Alexa recorded private conversation and sent it to someone in contact list

[ElderflowerWaterIsDelish]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44248122

Aibu to be wary about ever buying one of these after knowing it can do that?

(although I still kind of want one for the other features it can do)

"Most people on this thread probably have their phones listening to them anyway."

Wel at least I'm not one of them. I've never had anything but a landline.

*Nah, I've watched too many episodes of Black Mirror

I don't want my home all connectivity-ed up, and I already have stuff that does all the things.*

I would not a smart house that is all connected. Doesn't have to be all connected to the internet, just some devices that talk to one another.

I'm considering buying a Samsung smart fridge that can talk to my smart TV. There's a screen on the fridge so if you go into the kitchen you can still watch whatever is on the TV on the fridge screen! Its totally ridiculous and unnecessary but I just love the idea of it. And I want the Philips Hue lights that you can control with an app. Oh and a smart washing machine that I can control with my phone. And of course a lottery win!

Wouldn't mind ** - fat fingers.

Yes with you there WindDoesNotBreak. Our hob is the chief culprit. So melodramatic! I was very happy that our new washing machine DOES NOT BEEP!

I don't like Alexa - or any of the smart home assistants. I especially dislike hive and the other 'monitoring' stuff you can get - that advert where the woman is watching her dog sleep whilst she's at work is really creepy. I don't like the concept of being listened to by a device which has the capacity to go wrong and "accidentally" turn itself on and start recording. I also don't like the potential for future data exploitation from them. I disable the mic on my phone. I do have location enabled because I often use my phone as a sat nav, but that's the compromise I've accepted in order to be able to do so.

I don't want one. I mean, I've seen Terminator

Oh dear.

"There's a screen on the fridge so if you go into the kitchen you can still watch whatever is on the TV on the fridge screen!"

Well, since I hardly ever watch programmes or films as they're broadcast, but from tv player app on my tablet, to our non smart television, via our Chromecast, all I need to do if I need to leave the living room for any reason, is pause it.

"Google Home will talk to Alexa but she won't answer. "

Of course it won't. Google and Amazon are major rivals, although ime Google are more amenable read as anything if it brings more custom in. Eg Amazon have consistently refused to make their video service Chromecast compatible, despite Google providing them with the developer tools to do so.

Alexa freaks me out. I don't want a device in my home that's capable of listening to every conversation I have!

Did nobody read 1984?!

Sounds like there'll be cyberhandbags before dawn (or is Dawn another of the sinister fuckers? Who knows these days?). You mark my words.

Google Home needs to LTB!

We have a google home. I hate it. DH swears it isn't recording us but I simply don't believe it. If often talks to us when we haven't said anything to it.

I saw a programme that featured the home of Stirling Moss and he had lots of automated things - way ahead of his time

haha - his home nearly killed him!!!

He fell down 3 floors of a lift shaft when an electronic error caused the doors to open despite the lift being a floor higher. Not a great advert for automated home systems...

sorry to ask stupid questions

someone said "your phone is probably listening to you anyway"

why is that and how would it do so?

This is what they were talking abou:

globalnews.ca/news/4039276/smart-devices-facebook-listening/

The phone has a microphone, so it would be possible for a hidden program to activate it and record sounds. Any device with a microphone could do it.

The ultimate conspiracy theory, though, is that microwaves could also spy on us.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/13/kellyanne-conway-trump-wiretap-surveillance-obama

I have a shall we say close friend who is high up in the police. He won’t have personal conversations or talk about work in the same room as his phone. That was enough for me to switch off my microphone. And over my dead body is a listening device crossing my doorstep (and yes, I have tape over my camera on my laptop and also feel very uncomfortable about the amount of information people out there have about me ;) )

That episode of Dr Who, where (in the days when they were trendy) everyone was walking around with earphone mobile sets jammed in their ears - and then the sinister Dr Evil figure turned them all into cybermen via these earphones - put me off this kind of technology for life.

Seriously - if you want a weather forecast, it takes seconds to type 'accuweather' into your browser.

thanks lweji.

There was a chap on my local news last week who works for a company looking into hacking of these types of gadgets.

They got one to remotely send cash from someone's bank acct.

He said it was 'only a matter of time' before hackers started doing the same.

Tempting....

That and I live in Forrin so nothing here understands my accent anyway!