I'm curious if this situation would be different if the Echo was owned by the victim, and the murder happened at the victim's house.
Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect’s Echo recordings
91–100 of 190 posts
Re: Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect’s Echo recordings
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those patterns would be easily detected in the dataset. I tried logging my electricity use. You can easily see what time I wake up each day, when I get home, whether I watch TV or not, whether I cook using the microwave or the hob. It doesn't show up on my graph, but I'd bet from the data you can see exactly when I go to bed, since I plug in my phone (+1W) and switch off the last light (-5W). Within all this, the fri…
Thus you have a training dataset. Train a statistical model, and with enough programmability in your smart home it will be easy to forge a rather normal-looking pattern in your absence. And I'd probably use some special fire-proofed energy dissipation device instead of the more powerful real ones (e.g. the hob). EDIT: the internet surfing patterns are another story. But you can probably VPN to your home through some…
Exactly so. And then there's the corollary of times you come home, walk around back and drink beer on the patio watching the sunset with friends and eating takeout.
Re: Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect’s Echo recordings
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
The cops can't be certain if the suspect hasn't deleted incriminating recordings.
How is that different from you giving them access to your text messages? Edit: IANAL, but pretty sure deleting incriminating evidence is obstruction of justice
I don't think it is. I expect cops to ask the provider for a copy of the messages as well.
pretty sure deleting incriminating evidence is obstruction of justice
Probably, but so what?
Re: Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect’s Echo recordings
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Timers and automation are a thing.
Those patterns would be easily detected in the dataset. I tried logging my electricity use. You can easily see what time I wake up each day, when I get home, whether I watch TV or not, whether I cook using the microwave or the hob. It doesn't show up on my graph, but I'd bet from the data you can see exactly when I go to bed, since I plug in my phone (+1W) and switch off the last light (-5W). Within all this, the fri…
Ha, reminds me of when I brought my iPhone into repair due to a faulty battery. They took a look at the charts and noticed a high usage of power in the morning and then it would stay charged the rest of the day while I was at work. When the device was unplugged was when I left.
Re: Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect’s Echo recordings
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Timers and automation are a thing.
Those patterns would be easily detected in the dataset. I tried logging my electricity use. You can easily see what time I wake up each day, when I get home, whether I watch TV or not, whether I cook using the microwave or the hob. It doesn't show up on my graph, but I'd bet from the data you can see exactly when I go to bed, since I plug in my phone (+1W) and switch off the last light (-5W). Within all this, the fri…
> Those patterns would be easily detected in the dataset
You left off the implied "unless the intent of those systems is to create the appearance of occupancy". You know that a pattern associated with waking up happened. You don't know if I'm home or not. Now add in the case which happens to me sometimes where my morning ritual automation kicks in because my phone is home (but I'm not).
Re: Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect’s Echo recordings
#96I'm wondering, what if the suspect agreed with the request of the police to check the Echo recordings? Suppose the suspect is innocent and thinks that allowing access to the Echo recordings can only make his case stronger. Would Amazon then still refuse access?
From my POV, cops tend to ignore anything that doesn't point to "guilty". There would be no benefit to the accused in this case. IANAL, yada, yada.
Re: Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect’s Echo recordings
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Timers and automation are a thing.
Those patterns would be easily detected in the dataset. I tried logging my electricity use. You can easily see what time I wake up each day, when I get home, whether I watch TV or not, whether I cook using the microwave or the hob. It doesn't show up on my graph, but I'd bet from the data you can see exactly when I go to bed, since I plug in my phone (+1W) and switch off the last light (-5W). Within all this, the fri…
> It doesn't show up on my graph, but I'd bet from the data you can see exactly when I go to bed, since I plug in my phone (+1W) and switch off the last light (-5W).
You'd probably have a viable business model if you could actually do that. Existing options like Neurio cannot reliably detect devices pulling single-digit power draws.
Re: Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect’s Echo recordings
#98I'm wondering, what if the suspect agreed with the request of the police to check the Echo recordings? Suppose the suspect is innocent and thinks that allowing access to the Echo recordings can only make his case stronger. Would Amazon then still refuse access?
There is a strong argument for them to still refuse: suppose the suspect somehow gamed the system (e.g. by translating the voice via radio), and the suspect is acquitted based on this data, and proceeds to do his evil things — think about the bad PR your company would get! No thanks, I'd rather stick to the safe and rather popular policy of preserving privacy.
Re: Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect’s Echo recordings
#99More importantly, the headline should read: "Police use high time resolution data from modern water meter against man charged with murder." Basically this Abstruse Goose comic, http://abstrusegoose.com/553 , about the dangers of utility data logging have come true. The greater the time resolution of such things the more can be inferred. Such high resolution is completely uneeded and complex in order to just charge fo…
thats why i didnt want them to install the 'smart' meters for electricity. i told them I didnt want it, but they said they would shut off my electricity unless i complied.
Re: Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect’s Echo recordings
#100The article title seems misleading. It says "Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect's Echo recordings" and in the article says "Amazon has refused to hand over recordings from an Echo smart speaker to US police investigating a murder in Arkansas". However, the article then points out that the device only has an audio buffer of a few seconds and there are no such recordings: "the vast majority of the re…
That still reflects positively on Amazon, though. It protects the innocent consumers AND Amazon if they don't build mass surveillance into their device to begin with. Makes me wish more tech companies were building end-to-end security into their platforms.