Alexa

[BassBug]

My 17yo daughter has been gifted Alexa for her birthday today by her mum (ex wife) . I'm livid because nobody asked me if it was OK. I don't want Alexa in my house and I don't know what to do next. My daughter lives with me. Her mum and I are divorced but we have a good relationship as friends.

It only listens for “Alexa” and then pays attention once it hears it. It’s not streaming or recording or doing anything until you activate it with its name. If you think I’m being naive with that, you might as well unplug every electronic device in your home as there’s no reason they couldn’t all be listening all the time and sending everything back to GCHQ.

Alexa, why is her father such an arse?
I'm not quite sure how to help you with that.

@HowDoYouSolveAProblemLikeMyRear - my thoughts exactly!

I don’t understand how people are so naive! How do they think the device responds to ‘Alexa’? Only because it has to listen to EVERY word you say to spot the ‘Alexa’. And for sure it listens and for sure it records…everything you discuss at home - from your schedule to your travel plans to your investment decisions and your marital arguments. Baffles me how naive people are to the point of mocking those that DO understand..

And how do you think it spots you saying ‘Alexa’? In programming speak - it will listen to and send to the cloud ‘every single word you utter’ which are then matched against the word ‘Alexa’…when the cloud program spots the match it will start responding. But by no means can it not ‘listen’ the entire time. And the cloud is storing all those conversations. There is no other way to program this.

you might think these are innocent conversations and most of them probably are..but there could be sensitive stuff said and you might not even remember the that you had such a conversation! It’s like having a third person in the room listening to everything to say to your spouse / child / friend.

please understand these risks before you choose to shrug them off. And if you choose to still have Alexa then consciously switch it on/off rather than leaving it on all the time - which is what most people do for convenience..

That’s not how it works. The mic is active but it’s only listening for “Alexa” (or whichever word you choose). It recognises it locally, on the device. Then it starts streaming your request to the Amazon server. The light comes on to indicate this is happening. When the light’s not on, it’s not streaming or recording audio. Just listening for “Alexa”.

You're absolutely right OP. I wouldn't have an Alexa in my house either.

Google is far superior.

And how do you think it spots you saying ‘Alexa’? In programming speak - it will listen to and send to the cloud ‘every single word you utter’ which are then matched against the word ‘Alexa’…when the cloud program spots the match it will start responding. But by no means can it not ‘listen’ the entire time. And the cloud is storing all those conversations.

This is not how an Alexa device works at all. And none of what you've written is 'programming speak.

There is no other way to program this

What you describe is probably the most inefficient method I can think of for having a device identity a wake-word. Which is why no VA device works that way.

72 and 68 here and absolutely love our Alexa dot.

I never cease to be amazed at this level of naivety

For heavens sake just let her have it in her room. Do you think it’s wildly different from her phone?

The two of you, as her parents, really need to show your daughter some normality. Poor girl.

Paranoid much?

I don't like Alexa either would never haver one or any smart home devices for that matter, slippery slope.

Well, no need to be snippy.

I wasn't actually asking him, I was asking posters what is the danger with Alexa.

HTH.

I understand the general point about technology harnessing our data to target us with marketing. Alexa is the most obvious example of this i suppose, although we use social media and go online where this is also true. So I understand the unease. Dh was always uneasy about ours, and the final straw was when it started singing Daisy Daisy, completely unprompted, in a demonic voice.

But op, your dd is 17 - nearly an adult. What does she think about it? Could she keep it in her bedroom? Plus, if she has adhd then I think it could be a very useful tool for reminders, planning etc. That's how 15yo ds (diagnosed with adhd) now uses his.

Wow I think I would love it if my alexa starting singing that to me!
This will horrify some on this thread-we have an alexa in almost every room(use for reminders and alarms,news and weather but mainly music)

As ADHD I love alexa or similar tech. I understand the privacy concerns, but the benefit for me is bigger so let it slide.
She is 17. Sheshould be able to have it in her bedroom.
Op is not getting hard time because of basic privacy concerns, but being ott about it.

In East Germany the minute details of people's everyday lives were spied on and recorded. Its never a case of saying something ' wrong' and always a case of ' is my government mental', as theyre the ones who decide what is right and wrong to say.

or in this case , the private US company thats in bed with their insaniac government.

I can see it being a problem if your daughter’s name is maybe Alexa.

Alexa you’ll be late for school/Alexa your room is mess/Alexa don’t answer back.

Poor little Alexa in the corner would eventually self combust 💥

As genuine matter of interest, have you tested it ? There is no Alexa where I live, so I can't test this myself.

I am thinking along the lines of having a conversation about something that has never been talked about in your house, without prompting Alexa. Eg, hiring a car from Sixt, buying a new toaster. Then next time you use a laptop or something, check to see if you start getting adds for that product.

There was a thread on here a while back about Sixt hire cars. I looked up some info, and now all my devices are loaded with Sixt ads. We know many platforms go through the same systems and create profiles for sales, would be interesting to see if Alexa does the same.

No foil hat, just interested :-)

If you and your family are Scottish, there is no need to worry about voice recognition :-)

I have never managed to get any voice rec to understand a word I say.

You can see what she has listened too in the app

Jesus, get a grip. What do you think its going to do, spy on you? You're really not that interesting.

She can put it in her room, it'll do you no harm. It's Alexa, not bloody HAL9000.

Cool. I have never even seen one, so interesting to know thanks.

I would still be testing it though :-)

Your tinfoil hat okay ?? You sounds massively technophobic. I hope you are writing your post from Nokia 3310.

Do you think that even if you’re not at home, things “don’t listen” if so then your very naive…