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Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

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Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#511

Post by julianz »

monk_e_boy wrote: post #341
duxup wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the first voice command stuff on google. Buddy of mine was trying it out and I couldn't help myself but shout: "NEW TEXT MESSAGE TO JENNY! FUCK YOU! SEND!" Fortunately the phone was too slow to take it all (even if it had Jenny would have found it amusing, she was a cube or two away). But yeah first thing I thought of was that if it's listening how easy is it for it to mistake intent or someone else or etc…

My friend installed IBM OS/2 WARP beta when it came out, it too was voice controlled. We would shout into his room, "select all, delete" or "format c" or other childish fun commands.

Yup, Mac OS 7.5 had speech commands, my colleague named his machine "Oi!" and I would routinely shout "Oi! Shut down!" as I left the office. Never got old.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#512

Post by mikeash »

tambourine_man wrote: post #491
mikeash wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s so bad about having a small processor run a recognition routine on all incoming audio, discarding everything that doesn’t match, and activating the device if it does? Are you just worried about accidental activation?

>What’s so bad about having a small processor run a recognition routine on all incoming audio, discarding everything that doesn’t match, and activating the device if it does? If that was the case, nothing. But we have enough evidence to believe it's not. While having the device listen, even though it's been explicitly configured not to, is a bit more of a stretch. >Are you just worried about accidental activation? Th…

What evidence do we have? I’m about 99.9% sure that this story is just accidental activation and bad reporting.

If you’re concerned with malicious intent then I really don’t understand the difference. If the device maker is trustworthy then you’re fine either way. If they’re malicious then you’re screwed either way. A setting for “please don’t listen” isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference if they’re malicious. M

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#513

Post by DmenshunlAnlsis »

mikeash wrote: post #512
tambourine_man wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What’s so bad about having a small processor run a recognition routine on all incoming audio, discarding everything that doesn’t match, and activating the device if it does? If that was the case, nothing. But we have enough evidence to believe it's not. While having the device listen, even though it's been explicitly configured not to, is a bit more of a stretch. >Are you just worried about accidental activation? Th…

What evidence do we have? I’m about 99.9% sure that this story is just accidental activation and bad reporting. If you’re concerned with malicious intent then I really don’t understand the difference. If the device maker is trustworthy then you’re fine either way. If they’re malicious then you’re screwed either way. A setting for “please don’t listen” isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference if they’re mal…

Trust is proportional to access. I don’t trust any third party with an always-on microphone in my house, especially one that’s networked. Malice aside, I don’t trust their competence.

Nor should anyone I think.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#514

Post by BonesJustice »

dcohenp wrote: post #509
BonesJustice wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To my knowledge, “Hey Siri” has never been tied to the owner’s voice. I was able to post to a colleague’s Facebook account a couple years ago, using nothing but voice commands. It was sitting on his desk, locked. I haven’t tried it since, and I keep it disabled on my own phone.

"Hey Siri" has in fact been tied to the owner's voice since the iPhone 6s (2015): https://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/11/apples-hey-siri-feature...

Progress! I stand corrected. Thank you.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#515

Post by edwhitesell »

fmj wrote: post #505
acranox wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be amazed at my dad's ability to butt dial people with an iPhone. It's possible. Like multiple times per week possible.

My friend does this fairly often. He'll finish a call, and turn off his screen, but he has a tendency to to hit the fingerprint scanner as he's putting it into his pocket due to the design of the case and the way he holds it.

Some Androids (like mine) won't lock for a few seconds after turning off the screen. It's a nice feature when you press to turn off the screen, and quickly realize you need to do something else. Just turn on the screen and it's still unlocked.

Entering the pattern after it's locked is pretty much impossible though.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#516

Post by chias »

robotmlg wrote: post #409
duxup wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the first voice command stuff on google. Buddy of mine was trying it out and I couldn't help myself but shout: "NEW TEXT MESSAGE TO JENNY! FUCK YOU! SEND!" Fortunately the phone was too slow to take it all (even if it had Jenny would have found it amusing, she was a cube or two away). But yeah first thing I thought of was that if it's listening how easy is it for it to mistake intent or someone else or etc…

> As it is I hate how I can't talk ABOUT "ok google" around my phone... because it always goes off. On several tech podcasts I listen to ( http://atp.fm , https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/ ) they use fillers like "Yo, dingus!" to talk about alexa/hey siri/ok google

Mine will sometimes / often go off when I say "ok, cool". It's simultaneously amusing and annoying.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#517

Post by mehrdadn »

edwhitesell wrote: post #515
fmj wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend does this fairly often. He'll finish a call, and turn off his screen, but he has a tendency to to hit the fingerprint scanner as he's putting it into his pocket due to the design of the case and the way he holds it.

Some Androids (like mine) won't lock for a few seconds after turning off the screen. It's a nice feature when you press to turn off the screen, and quickly realize you need to do something else. Just turn on the screen and it's still unlocked. Entering the pattern after it's locked is pretty much impossible though.

But then that means if you put it in your pocket it might suddenly do something because it's not locked yet.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#518

Post by ar-jan »

duxup wrote: post #327
yason wrote: post #297

I am oversimplifying here but: * install device that is designed to listen to speech in the house * the device is connected to internet * the device is capable of contacting other internet peers/services/hosts * the device knows a bit about its owner's internet presence such as contacts * the device is equipped with simple conversational user interface based on fuzzy human speech-command detection These basically bou…

I remember the first voice command stuff on google. Buddy of mine was trying it out and I couldn't help myself but shout: "NEW TEXT MESSAGE TO JENNY! FUCK YOU! SEND!" Fortunately the phone was too slow to take it all (even if it had Jenny would have found it amusing, she was a cube or two away). But yeah first thing I thought of was that if it's listening how easy is it for it to mistake intent or someone else or etc…

https://xkcd.com/1807/

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#519

Post by mikeash »

DmenshunlAnlsis wrote: post #513
mikeash wrote: post #512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What evidence do we have? I’m about 99.9% sure that this story is just accidental activation and bad reporting. If you’re concerned with malicious intent then I really don’t understand the difference. If the device maker is trustworthy then you’re fine either way. If they’re malicious then you’re screwed either way. A setting for “please don’t listen” isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference if they’re mal…

Trust is proportional to access. I don’t trust any third party with an always-on microphone in my house, especially one that’s networked. Malice aside, I don’t trust their competence. Nor should anyone I think.

That’s fair, but again, a smartphone fits that description too and nobody is talking about how you’d have to be crazy to let one in your house.

It seems to me that smartphones are significantly worse. You can unplug your smart speaker or kick it off your WiFi and be confident that it can no longer hear you. Smartphones have batteries and cellular data connections. Also they’re usually with you at all times, even when you’re away from home.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#520

Post by davidandgoliath »

Declanomous wrote: post #386
duxup wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the inverse experience. My wife's laptop had a touch screen and I thought "What a dumb idea, what use is that?" Then she'd ask me for help and rather than have to wait for her to find what button I was talking about I'd just tap the screen a few times and we were off and running again!

I bought the original Surface Pro the week it came out. I actually really like the interface and thought that it was great. I didn't really understand why so many people hated Windows 8 until I tried to use in on a desktop. Even with a touchscreen it's pretty annoying. I'd been using Linux as my primary OS for years at that point, so I think I'm pretty critical of Microsoft in general, however they did a good job bui…

> The state of touchscreen support in Linux was pretty bad the last time I checked though.

Anecdotal — but have had no trouble for the last two years with my dell xps. Other issues with said laptop (keyboard), but touchscreen support in linux isn't one of them.

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