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.

WTF?

Lots of people don't like them because they have the capacity to listen to conversation in the house.

Anyway OP consider allowing it in her bedroom, but if you really don't want even that, then you just have to explain your reasoning.

I wouldn't be livid, like the PP above lots of people aren't aware of the issues with them.

I totally agree. I don’t need a device in my house that is always on, always listening, always taking data from any conversations had and ‘using’ it.

Just say not in my house.

It’s mind boggling how naive some are about having such a device.

Oh, you’re one of the tin hat brigade!
I understand now.
Well this is a tricky one for you to deal with then. Whose wishes trump whose? Your DD’s? Or yours?
Think carefully, as with your strong paranoia you could end up alienating your child.

My 20 somethings have both had Alexas for several years and keep them in their bedrooms. I have never got involved other than to occasionally tell it to turn down the volume of the music they were playing. I'm not sure how useful they find them, though I think they like the laziness of not having to move from either the bed or their gaming chair.

Hmm, I'm going to have to ask them now....

I wouldn’t have one.

Well it starts recording when it's hears Alexa, so it can chuck your question up to the cloud and bring back your answer.

But it is always listening for Alexa, which means effectively that it's listening. Right now there have been some privacy blips but I don't think any major issues, but it wouldn't be hard for the settings to change - and most likely the options to give up some privacy in return for desks to build data harvesting will emerge if they haven't already. (It already keeps all your questions, unless you ask it not to.)

So it's allowing tech that has the capacity to take your privacy into your home that some people don't went to do, and fair enough.

Smart phones are exactly the same of course.

But not all electric devices in the average house no. The average kettle is pretty incurious and thick.

Cool. I don't want that in my house. I'm perfectly capable of telling the time, choosing music, and remembering tasks myself, and value our house as a private place for our family. It doesn't make me paranoid, or technophobic, it's just a personal choice.

The vitriol on this thread towards the OP because he feels the same way is pretty grim.

I can see why she's an ex. 🙄

There's no need to be quite so bitchy and incurious

I have a smart phone and an Alexa, but the fact these devices have the capacity to listen to us, and our phones/GPS/apps to track our movement isn't nothing to worry about.

Especially given the retreat of global democracy and rising instability it's a huge concern (how quickly did the big tech companies Trump themselves up)

It's completely understandable how this has happened - we are in the Wild West era, but We'll look back and be amazed at the free rein we gave technology and internet access (or if we don't then we'll really have been fucked).

It's not so much the vitriol that bothers me (sorry OP!) but the complete lack of thought behind it.

I have a shit ton of smart devices, but I am very surprised at the inability of presumably perfectly intelligent people on this thread to understand why this tech is a concern, especially given our global political situation.

Yes I did this.

DH and I talked loudly and often about buying a pram. something we (at the time) would never dream of buying, or googling.

Absolutely nothing happened, not a single advert for anything even remotely baby related.

Then a week later DD announced she was very unexpectedly pregnant, but I'm fairly sure Alexa had nothing to do with that!

Now how it works at all. It uses keyword spotting............
Keyword spotting is a specialized speech processing technology that identifies specific, predefined words or phrases (known as "keywords" or "wake words") within a continuous stream of audio, while ignoring all other speech or background noise.

Alexa is actually very useful for people with adhd. It's a shame that your phobia will prevent your dd from benefiting from the gift, but it's your house so I guess you are free to ban it if you want.

Does your dd not have a smartphone with Siri or equivalent built in?

Ha ha ha excellent :-)

I just wondered.

It does because that's how it's currently programmed to work, it could easily be re-programmed to listen more actively.

That's what concerns people - right now there don't seem to be major issues - but once they're in our homes that can change.

Smart phones are the same, and I have both.

But they can also be unplugged if people develop concerns.

Funny..

Try it with your smart phone, mine is deffo listening to me. I should fiddle with the settings, but on the other hand, it's handy.

Yes of course they can, but then if it's unplugged there's not a bunch of point having one.

What concerns me is when my phone comes up with ads for things I've only thought about....

Indeed

That’s quite extreme !

She's an ex because I had a serious motorcycle accident and decided that she didn't sign up for being married to a disabled person. I have friends who work in tech that won't have Alexa in the house.

You can turn off the microphone so it stops listening then DD can just use it as a normal speaker with her phone, problem solved

Yanbu. I’m no conspiracy theorist but I wouldn’t want one in my home either.