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)

Surely people "high up in tech companies" are the kind of people who know they would be worth hacking? Same as security services, cant imagine James Bond having one.
I don't want to have mine turned off when not using, as for me the point is being able to play music without moving, find out the weather, communicate with the upstairs devices, turn a light off. I hope if you have banned alexa from your home you also have the wit to not take part in facebook "games" that use a photo of your face, pet details etc.

Interaction with Alexa is very abrupt, for example please and thank you are discouraged/unnecessary. Users
are encouraged to demand. As tech like Alexa becomes more common I can see this having an impact on people. Certainly children raised from birth in an AI world will be in real danger of losing social skills and even empathy.

Yes I completely agree with this. I used to work in tech for a big advertising agency and I have done some work for AI companies. I found the lack/downright discouragement of social niceties jarring.

To me it isn't about (not) having something to hide. Advertising is big business and there is psychology involved and targeting and as others have said it's not always selling a basic product, it's ideas and attitudes. I am not comfortable with it at all. Sadly my DH seems intent on filling our home with these devices. I keep what I can unplugged if not in use.

There's me thinking I'm farting in private

Imagine, you’ve farted and Alexa’s official voice: You are warned and reported!

I resisted the temptation to get a device that would play music on demand so I've not got an Echo or whatever.

But I was listening to the radio one afternoon when there was a programme on about museums. Suddenly a voice from my phone announced it had found a list of local museums for me.

Then yesterday afternoon, while we were in a coffee shop, I mentioned a band I was going to see in a few weeks and my friend's phone found me a list of google articles about them.

I work in IT and I think many people really underestimate the abilities of "robots". apart from the fact that amazon, Google and hundreds of other companies actually employ people to listen and read your conversations, AI can analyse and connect data from many sources much better than any human.

Yes definitely.

We're being realistic and informed

Informed from where?
Do you have links that provide evidence beyond paranoia and anecdotal?
I'd be interested to read them.

unless you are disabled why would you want one? Lights have switches, music devices have control panels, doors can be opened by going to them and parcels can be delivered to work or to parcel lockers, which we have even here in not-London.

They do collect and monitor data, not for 'Big Brother' but to sell you crap. And it works.

We have one and I only recently found out to turn the "drop in" off as apparently people can hack them and listen in.

I turned this off and feel a bit better about it. I don't like it but DH has it connected to every bloody lamp, garden lights, fish tank etc so he loves it 🙄

@MonkeyToesOfDoom why do you think Amazon is storing data?

OFGS

Just open the app, go to settings, Alexa privacy and then review voice history.

There you can see everything it’s heard and it’s responses. You can delete it from there as well.

It’s not hard or mysterious or anything

getupnow

marketing.

Do you have links that provide evidence beyond paranoia and anecdotal?

www.cnet.com/how-to/amazon-and-google-are-listening-to-your-voice-recordings-heres-what-we-know/

thewirecutter.com/blog/amazons-alexa-never-stops-listening-to-you/

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/amazon-echo-alexa-evidence-murder-case-a8633551.html

So you do agree with @zafferana then?

Those links don't confirm Amazon listening 24/7.
They confirm it listens when woken.
That they give the anonymous recordings to employees to improve voice recognition etc.
So I don't see what the point of postin them were? Unless you just googled and picked the top three results without actually reading them?

googled my name. Random stuff about the queen in the daily mirror, umm... why???

I posted these upthread

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2018/12/20/amazon-does-the-unthinkable-and-sends-alexa-recordings-to-the-wrong-person/amp%5D%5Dp

go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=www.npr.org/2018/05/25/614315967/oregon-couple-unplugs-alexa-after-it-records-private-conversation?t=1580040791400

From cnet:

listen to anonymized user audio clips for the purposes of improving their respective assistant's capabilities.

spokesperson added that employees can't directly access identifying information about the people or accounts associated with the recordings.

we use multi-factor authentication to restrict access, service encryption, and audits of our control environment to protect it

Wirecutter

Like any website or mobile app, Alexa collects information on how users interact with it from what they say, what they ask it to do, and which third-party skills they interact with. Amazon likens this to how websites use cookies to collect information on your browsing

The article actually reads:

In my experience, using Alexa on a daily basis hasn’t resulted in more direct marketing from Amazon

So not exactly a support for the paranoia side is it?

From the NPR Transcript:

Amazon says the couple must have woken up their speaker by saying something sounding like Alexa, then they used words that sounded like send message.

Well that's just damning right there..

But I'm leaving the thread, arguing with flatearthers and the like is so so tiresome and dull.
Believe what you like... Amazon is listening and is an evil shadowy organisation that wants to sell you arse cream for the butt hurt.

From Bloomberg who I think first had the story re humans transcribing recordings.

"But sometimes Alexa appears to begin recording without any prompt at all, and the audio files start with a blaring television or unintelligible noise. Whether or not the activation is mistaken, the reviewers are required to transcribe it. One of the people said the auditors each transcribe as many as 100 recordings a day when Alexa receives no wake command or is triggered by accident. "

I don't think it's paranoid to assume the wake word isn't effective.

That they give the anonymous recordings to employees to improve voice recognition etc.

Yeah, employees that can understand English and can understand what you're saying. It may be "anonymous" at that point but let's not pretend Amazon and Google aren't going to use your data to their advantage if they can get away with it.

Or do you genuinely think your recordings are anonymous? If that's the case, then why was Amazon required by the courts to send Alexa recordings to the police so they could be used in a murder trial in America?

Not so anonymous if everything can be traced back to the source, is it?

Do you have links that provide evidence beyond paranoia and anecdotal?

Just fucking Google it if you're interested - plenty of stuff. I think it's very telling that those that work for these companies often limit their own and their families' exposure to it. They value their privacy (such as it exists now), as do I. But if you don't, like I said up thread, you go ahead, but don't call the rest of us paranoid. Having a storeroom full of rifles, ammunition and food for several months is paranoid, not allowing listening devices from companies that have been demonstrated, time and again, to be willing to use their clients' data for nefarious purposes (see Cambridge Analytica scandal), is not.

unless you are disabled why would you want one?
I hope you keep your tv remote as far from where you sit as possible. If you have legs, use them right?
They are quick. I can check the weather more quickly than on my phone. I can ask it things while I am doing something else - I don't have to stop doing dishes to dry hands and tap into a screen (and probably find my glasses first tbh). Using voice commands not typed ones is popular with a range of people for a range of reasons.
That doesn't deal with security issues, but a number of posters on the thread have basically said why have one, it offers nothing - well you probably aren't using it right then.

I see.. so being a supporter of Alexa means I'm easily led. Those concerned about Alexa aren't easily led because they know the truth.

Well- that’s what you said.

There's a button on the top to mute the microphone, just press it when you're not using it!

Isn't it funny that people that buy into the paranoia always put themselves forward as the ones that 'Know' the truth?
Flat earthers just know the earth is flat and globe earthers are those that don't understand, that are sheep.

I think you'll find both of those sets of people claim to ‘know’ the truth and that the other does understand.

Now that, to me, is irony.

You were right, you don’t get irony.