Am I completely crazy or AIBU getting rid of Alexa?

[Konicek007]

Hello, call me paranoid but..would like some opinions.
We have Alexa Echo dot in the living room, purely because of the music, we not use it for anything else. We love it playing music through it. Hi
Yesterday me and my daughter ( 8 yrs) were having a conversation , her telling me about her horse toy she not longer wants, saying something in lines she doesn’t want to play with it anymore as she is too big now, to get rid of it etc..
Suddenly Alexa buttered in saying something like You are being warn and reported etc. We haven’t heard the message clear as we also had a music playing from radio.
None of us used the woke up word Alexa for her to respond, plus the music was playing in background but we did heard her saying about warning us..
Now I heard stories about these speakers are actually spying on your home but I never believed it.
My friend husband works for well know computer company as IT developer and he always kept saying to avoid these things in our home.
Now I’m actually paranoid and thinking to get rid of Alexa.
Your opinions please. ( don’t laugh)

I could harvest more data about Mumsnet users
Yeah that too

But Alexa has to be listening all the time, otherwise "she" won't know when you're saying Alexa!

It's a robot. It is programmed to listen for the word "Alexa" on a loop. Once it hears that, it then records whatever you say next and uploads it to a server where it processes the voice information and translates it into something it can understand.

It is not using the Internet until it hears "Alexa". It isn't a human ear, it cannot understand any other word you are saying other than Alexa without accessing its servers. Multiple tests have shown that it isn't accessing those servers until "Alexa" is said.

lotsofoysters

For me there is a HUGE difference, here I choose to engage and think before I share any information.
Alexa and similar listen to everything, constantly and in the background. I would argue that I'm not actively choosing to share information very second of everyday with the thing

The naivety on this thread is shocking.

What is that they say - 1984 was not an instruction manual!

We don’t and won’t get one due to this. Have had worrying conversations about this with others

We have a google home in almost every room, we use it for music, questions, alarms, lists and letting the kids know it's dinnertime or whatever (we have a town house so 2 storey's above ground). I wouldn't think anything of it, and wouldn't worry about it. Can't you look it up on the app to see what it was?

I would not have one in my house, I read too much dystopia fiction to be comfortable with that.

Removing Alexa from your home will be unnecessary if you keep your smart phones and tablets.
They "listen" in the same way as they all have something like Alexa built in like Siri or hey google or whatever it is.

@Wingedserpentfliesbynight

Yes it is listening, but only for Alexa and then whatever you say after that. It's like having a person in the room who only understands one word in English. They can hear everything you're saying but they have no idea what it means. When you say the English word they understand, they press record on their phone for 10 seconds and run it through Google translate. As long as you only say things you're happy for them to understand in that 10 seconds, that's the only information they can get!

Amazon aren't selling £50 devices with millions of pounds of voice recognition software on board. They have enough software to translate one word (well, however many words you can set as the trigger word) and that's it. For everything else it needs the Internet. If it isn't accessing the Internet, it cannot translate what you're saying.

"It’s not the car; it’s the behavioral data from driving the car. It’s not the map; it’s the behavioral data from interacting with the map. The ideal here is continuously expanding borders that eventually describe the world and everything in it, all the time"
(Shoshana zuboff speaking about Google)

Amazon themselves have said that even if a user wipes old audio files it doesn't mean they do that with stored data & they inform the user either.

Thousands of employees & contractors have access to voice & text scripts in order to improve Alexa voice recognition. Some of them had access to location info.

I'm also sure I read that if you have a nest or My Sonus or Philips hue lights the info recorded is shared with Amazon

I won't have one, can't afford stuff that I don't need.

I think there is potential for abuse. A lot of the scare stories comes from the US, which like their vaccinations and police procedures, is very different to ours.
They use these devices in Court. The Police use them, but their recording in the US is done more and kept for longer.

I like having CCTV, it's helped get dangerous people behind bars. Or stopped someone being wrongfully convicted.

Of course it's always listening to you. My mum bought my DH one for Xmas and we refuse to use it. I'd get rid, you're not being paranoid.

They "listen" in the same way as they all have something like Alexa built in like Siri or hey google or whatever it is.

Only if you switch on their ability to do so. Alexa is active 24/7 unless you turn it off at the wall. Smartphones can have their voice activation/recognition disabled while still being used.

they can hear everything you're saying but they I have no idea what it means
The fact that Alexa is not sentient, is not conscious is neither here nor there, Alexa is the interface for a pipeline which collects data, the raw material which it gathers for free from you
you think you're getting for something for free but really you are giving away something for free
The cow thinks the milking shed provides free shelter but really the cow provides free milk

they can hear everything you're saying but they I have no idea what it means

That's irrelevant, as the data is passed along to actual humans who can understand it.

seymour really stupid question maybe, but what if Siri is not enabled?

I am planning to switch back to a dumb phone but still in contract on a smart phone.

We have one but always press the button to stop it listening when we are not giving it an instruction. I tend to only listen to it to play music when I'm working on laptop so it's on the table next to it. I review the history when I've finished using it, there is never anything on there because I'm usually working on my own.

That's irrelevant, as the data is passed along to actual humans who can understand it.

But only if you've said "Alexa"! That's the point. It isn't recording 24/7. You can verify it by checking your router.

If mine is listening she's an insensitive bitch. LP and two kids, no money - stressful chaos and me crying with exhaustion and loneliness.

Don't be so naive that Amazon has sold you Alexa for your benefit. That's not what companies do.

Indeed - that's very last century. A grocer would sell you a bag of potatoes for cash to the amount of their inherent value - you get your spuds, he gets his money, transaction over and both go on your merry way.

Nowadays, it's all about selling you the bait with an ulterior motive. Why else would printers with amazing technological advances be sold for £30 in the supermarket? Look at the price of the model-specific ink and you'll instantly see why. Why do they sell Alexas and Kindle Fires etc for far less than the technology is worth? Because it's in THEIR interests for you to have one so that they can hugely capitalise on your future purchasing and personal information. If you work in a shop, your employer gives you a till to use for their benefit - it's no different really.

I genuinely believe that the likes of Amazon and Google would happily give the devices away absolutely free, but for the fact that that would give the game away and make people stop and think about the bigger picture. However, give them hundreds of pounds of technology hardware/software/development for £50 and most don't think to question it at all - they just think it's like buying the potatoes.

I'm not paranoid about it but I don't have any smart devices in the house other than phones and bluetooth speaker. I don't really need a Dot or whatever to remind me to do something or ask it questions. I think certain apps are useful like the one you can turn your heating on from your phone but pretty soon we'll do nothing for ourselves as robots will do everything.
Already think it's bad enough with the targeted ads, I don't want a device in my house that listens to me. No one else does 😉

@Konicek007 the Alexa is a listening device so it is listening to your conversations, it has to be in order to know when you say “Alexa” it’s just programmed to only respond when that command is executed.

The independent ran this article where members of staff from Amazon openly admitted accessing customers conversations:

www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/amazon-alexa-echo-listening-spy-security-a8865056.html%3famp

I have friend that works designing some of this technology, the sound card and microphones so knows exactly what capabilities are required.

Switching off the enable function of Siri etc is removing your ability to interact with them.
It doesn't disable the "listening" function. It's not info passed onto governments of anything too sinister. There are algorithms built to target ads based on conversations.

It's has been devised as a way to make money nothing more, nothing less.

Amazon and Google would happily give the devices away absolutely free
dead right, they don't give them away free because that would make people suspicious of their motives