Read this, then use a sledgehammer on your Amazon Alexa

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Well on the upside there no more need for baby monitors...

originally posted by: Nickn3

originally posted by: Metallicus
I would never put one of these devices in my home. I put my phone in a faraday bag at night. I don’t use social media. I just want to be left the hell alone by Government and corporations to live my life.

OMG, there is someone as paranoid as I am. I feel so much better now.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't watching you.

I'd like to know more information on the event. Was it a glitch or did the couple inadvertently command their echo to send a message to this person in their contact list? I'm thinking it is the latter.

a reply to: Halfswede

Speaking of DNA, check these folks out. healid.io...

Couple that with Ok Google and Alexa and tell me how they are going to keep anonymity.

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Uhhh...no # eh? Gee what a surprise...

Personally I've never seen the attraction to Amazons Alexa or similar gadgets. Is life really that difficult where for example you can't look up what the weather is going to be on the day you wake up, or is it difficult to research something instead of asking Alexa or have Alexa to remind you of a meeting you have in the morning. I feel gadgets like these will slowly make the human race become dumber and less self reliant on doing things yourself.

Even on my iPhone I've never used Siri to set reminders I've only ever used it to ask it stupid questions

originally posted by: ThePeaceMaker
Personally I've never seen the attraction to Amazons Alexa or similar gadgets. Is life really that difficult where for example you can't look up what the weather is going to be on the day you wake up, or is it difficult to research something instead of asking Alexa or have Alexa to remind you of a meeting you have in the morning. I feel gadgets like these will slowly make the human race become dumber and less self reliant on doing things yourself.

Even on my iPhone I've never used Siri to set reminders I've only ever used it to ask it stupid questions

Yep!

I remember my days in retail management when the power would go out. We had people who wanted to make a purchase and the so called educated college associates lost their minds when I showed them the old manual credit card machine and how to make the phone call and write up the sale manually. Freakin unbelievable at how stupid some of these young adults were...........

I've never used voice commands to look anything up.

I play with language too much and research obscure odd words etc.

It seems much simpler to type in my queries manually.

It's a ploy for $$. The BIGGEST deal is you have to turn on this skill. THEN, you have to give very specific instruction to record, THEN, very specific command to send it to someone in your address book. ZERO chance that ALL could happen accidentally. I'm sure the truth will come out in the investigatio/ court proceedings.

What I want to know is how it accessed the Contacts list?

I mean, I can see accessing the Contacts on my phone....but ....Alexa??
How???

I think the story is probably accurate in that it really was a rare occurrence.

Many people are suspicious that Alexa records everything said around it. Turns out they were right, it does.

No, it doesn't. There have been multiple tests done (by the IOT site, by MIT, etc.) - to see if there is traffic occurring through both the echo and the dot if the wakeup command has not been given. They have all determined that there is not. Of course, there could be something super-sneaky in place where it records it locally, and then a remote command pulls your data later. Personally I don't think that is the case.

They also determined it encrypts effectively and with every command spoken, so it is secure as well. I imagine it can be open to other abuses, and also with all the apps being developed for it (and other personal assistant devices), some are going to have security issues or other problems people should be concerned about.

It's the typical everyone wants to have and eat their cake scenario. Everyone wants the convenience and freedom of the Internet - but they want to be protected. But without any constraints to them. They want it to be regulated for the stuff that annoys them, but not regulated against anything they enjoy doing. People want personal assistants, but don't want them to know their schedules, location, birthdays of people they know, etc. - they want it all.

For this it is easy enough - don't trust it, don't own it. : )

I trust MS right now, far less than Amazon. I would never use Cortana as a personal assistant.

2030 new law pass't.
Ever one Must have a mobile phone!
for identification.....!

so they can track and know ever thing you do.

"I'm never gonna get me one of those Alexa things!" - Guy Typing on Internet

It isn't just Alexa, methinks.

Wife showed me a video of 2 lynx having an argument. I looked at it on her phone for a few, and went back to my regularly scheduled putzing around on my computer.

24 hours later....

Same, exact video shows up in my Youtube feed, under "recommended for you". Wife hadn't shared it to me in any way (And considering I don't have social media anything any more, there's no way to), nor was it emailed, or anything else. I simply (my theory) stuck my head into the field of view of the front camera, and algorithms did their dark, wicked magic somehow.

Phone is a Galaxy Note 5, BTW.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
What I want to know is how it accessed the Contacts list?

I mean, I can see accessing the Contacts on my phone....but ....Alexa??
How???

The buying and selling of everyone's info.

originally posted by: RomaSempre
To my thinking, every picture I've ever taken has been sent to Apple and been identified and/or classified. How else would it know what type of dogs I have?

Apple's object detection all runs directly on the phone. The photos do not have to be sent to Apple or anywhere else.

www.apple.com...

One of the best things about Photos is how it protects your privacy. iOS is designed to take advantage of the powerful processor built into every iPhone and iPad. So when you search your photos, for instance, all the face recognition and scene and object detection are done completely on your device. Which means your photos are yours and yours alone.