So Alexa will listen to everything we say......

[Boomthereitis]

Amazon has filed a patent so that the device will listen to everything you say. Big data get even bigger!

Will people still be happy to use Alexa now that they have confirmed it will record everything?

mspoweruser.com/new-patent-reveals-amazons-plans-for-an-alexa-device-that-records-everything-you-speak/

I thought they did anyway? Surely everyone already knows this?

They already do listen to everything you say.

How else do you think they know to respond when you give a command?

They already do ....

They already do.
It once crossed my mind during sex with DH in bedroom and the thought made me feel quite uncomfortable.

I already know this and I don’t care

My Alexa must be very, very bored.

Some people seem to think that the device only listens once it hears it’s woke word- Alexa- and this is what amazon suggests on its website.

However, this confirms that the device will be recording every single thing you say.

It already does listen, and not only that , actual people are listening to the recordings too.

link

But how would it 'hear' the word Alexa if it wasn't always listening?

It still has to be plugged into the wall ....which has an off switch. No power, no listening.

I'm sorry but that did make me snort @Aquamarine1029

It's not surprised. There was article recently confirming it but said that despite hearing it; they don't report cases of domestic violence. They're using the information for marketing purposes only. I plug out ours at night. It's creepy to know someone is listening to you having sex.

No it doesn't confirm that at all.

Currently all smart speakers process on their own device as they come in, and if it hears something it decides is a wake work it sends off a recording to some central servers which process it. All this does is include a short period before the wake word in the data that is dispatched to the server, this is far from "recording every single thing you say."

It certainly increases the amount of things that are sent, and also adds some new threats - you can say the wake word after someone said something "I'm going to kill you", "Alexa" - would result in the threat being recorded. But it does not fundamentally change the nature of the privacy threat of voice assistants beyond that.

This is exactly why I wouldn’t have one. It’s very Orwellian tele-screens, isn’t it?

Why on earth does anyone want one anyway? What does it actually fucking DO to improve your life? The only experience I have of one is through being at friends’ parties, where at the end of every song, someone screams, “ALEXA!! Play blah blah blah.” Which was so fucking irritating it cemented in my mind immediately that I would never have one in my home.

There's a difference between always listening and always recording as in actually storing it long-term.

There's no way they can record everything every user says because the data storage costs/logistics would be unfeasible.

Still, the listening alone is enough of a privacy concern for me that I'd never get one.

Having been brought up reading all sorts of sci fi I have a fully formed, fully informed view on these things and wouldn't have one in the house. We even switch off the cameras in laptops etc.

Not paranoid just wholly aware that there are no laws about these non surveillance / surveillance gadgets and the companies who sell them just want to be able to narrow down your chices as far aspossible, so you will only ever hear their recommendations, buy their products.

And that is just the slaes side of it! There is all sorts of other, underlying data they collect and no control over how it is used.

I have to admit that some of the issues raised here scare me:

www.which.co.uk/news/2018/06/which-investigation-reveals-staggering-level-of-smart-home-surveillance/?wgu=5665_153331_15590636203372_15f5a05f03&wgexpiry=1566839620&utm_source=webgains&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_content=67829&source_code=314AGJ

It still has to be plugged into the wall ....which has an off switch. No power, no listening. But that ignores all the other gadgets that don't need to be plugged in, collecting all sorts of data that you simply don't think about!

See that Which report for examples.

That is one of the main reason l won't have Alexa or similar.

My teenage boy has an Alexa in his room. If it is recording all the time it basically just has hours and hours of a one sided conversation where he insults his mates via Xbox headset. I’m not overly bothered about that tbh!

I couldn’t care less about it. I have 4 of the things

Our data is the what they make money off. We are the product they are selling. That's why we have Alexa, Siri and Google Home. Free social media has been doing it for years. It's all in the terms of service. The technology and servers aren't free to create and maintain so they have to make money somehow. I don't really mind.

That really isn’t the point though, is it. Whether or not my life is boring, I do not want it listened to at every moment of every day.

It’s like people are just determined to sleepwalk into a dystopian nightmare....

It’s like people are just determined to sleepwalk into a dystopian nightmare.... Yep!

That really isn’t the point though, is it. Whether or not my life is boring, I do not want it listened to at every moment of every day

Yeah but there's not really any point trying to change anyone's mind on the issue. These threads come up regularly and people are generally very hardheaded about their opinion on it, whichever way that might be.

I honestly believe many people would be perfectly happy to let the government/multinational corporations set up cctv cameras in their houses if it made their life a little easier somehow.