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Locked-down lawyers warned Alexa is hearing confidential calls

bloomberg.com

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Re: Locked-down lawyers warned Alexa is hearing confidential calls

#51

Post by lima »

Foober223 wrote: post #49
Touche wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing in your pocket is always listening too.

Supposedly your smart phone and smart TV are not passively listening to your offline conversations. That's only done on a targeted basis to people who are being monitored. Your location history however is being passively tracked. Not defending it, but your smart phone is not quite as bad as Alexa. At least for the moment.

Many Android phones have always-on "Ok Google" hotword detection that works exactly like the standalone devices.

Source: Mine does, very useful!

Re: Locked-down lawyers warned Alexa is hearing confidential calls

#53

Post by lima »

pdkl95 wrote: post #43

Alexa et al are also normalizing "always on microphone that sends audio to a remote business over the internet" technology . According to the bright-line rule from Kyllo v United States [1], when a technology is "in general public use"[2], police no longer need a warrant when they use their own devices based on that technology to see the "details of a private home that would previously have been unknowable without ph…

How so?

The ruling is about agents using thermal imaging technology to bust a marijuana plantation, performed from a car on a public street. The court stated that this does not constitute a search, since any random citizen could've done the same thing using commodity equipment.

Always on microphones that transmit via the internet (i.e. bugs) have been a commodity for... a few decades? But you still cannot legally bug your neighbor's apartment.

Re: Locked-down lawyers warned Alexa is hearing confidential calls

#54

Post by wolco »

lima wrote: post #51
Foober223 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supposedly your smart phone and smart TV are not passively listening to your offline conversations. That's only done on a targeted basis to people who are being monitored. Your location history however is being passively tracked. Not defending it, but your smart phone is not quite as bad as Alexa. At least for the moment.

Many Android phones have always-on "Ok Google" hotword detection that works exactly like the standalone devices. Source: Mine does, very useful!

No one who cares about privacy would turn that on.

Re: Locked-down lawyers warned Alexa is hearing confidential calls

#55

Post by [deleted] »

lima wrote: post #53
pdkl95 wrote: post #43

Alexa et al are also normalizing "always on microphone that sends audio to a remote business over the internet" technology . According to the bright-line rule from Kyllo v United States [1], when a technology is "in general public use"[2], police no longer need a warrant when they use their own devices based on that technology to see the "details of a private home that would previously have been unknowable without ph…

How so? The ruling is about agents using thermal imaging technology to bust a marijuana plantation, performed from a car on a public street. The court stated that this does not constitute a search, since any random citizen could've done the same thing using commodity equipment. Always on microphones that transmit via the internet (i.e. bugs) have been a commodity for... a few decades? But you still cannot legally bug…

[deleted]

Re: Locked-down lawyers warned Alexa is hearing confidential calls

#56

Post by lima »

einpoklum wrote: post #26
zie wrote: post #7

I have no doubt they are able to hear anything happening in the room they happen to be installed in. But I doubt they listen for anything but their keyword, and I seriously doubt they listen, record and send off to their overlords what they hear on a massive basis. However, they clearly CAN, and while they almost certainly don't on any massive scale, if they by their overlord or a security hack, did on a targeted bas…

> But I doubt they listen for anything but their keyword > I can't imagine the NSA and other covert organizations not drooling at the chance to do just that. Why doubt? Why imagine? You know that, for data on big corporation's servers, the NSA already gets a copy of everything - and everything is recorded forever without you really being able to delete it. Why would this be so different for voluntary self-espionage d…

> You know that, for data on big corporation's servers, the NSA already gets a copy of everything

This is squarely in conspiracy theory realm. Nothing in the Snowden documents or other leaks hinted at this (except for the NSA snooping on unencrypted internal links, which is useless now that everyone encrypts everything).

> Why would this be so different for voluntary self-espionage devices (Alex, Dot etc.)?

Why would a big tech company willfully infringe on their customer's privacy? How would they even do it? They have every reason to prevent it.

Re: Locked-down lawyers warned Alexa is hearing confidential calls

#57

Post by wolco »

zie wrote: post #7

I have no doubt they are able to hear anything happening in the room they happen to be installed in. But I doubt they listen for anything but their keyword, and I seriously doubt they listen, record and send off to their overlords what they hear on a massive basis. However, they clearly CAN, and while they almost certainly don't on any massive scale, if they by their overlord or a security hack, did on a targeted bas…

They could be under a court order to record certain keywords and we wouldn't know similiar to our telephones.

If they are not doing this now they will be.

Re: Locked-down lawyers warned Alexa is hearing confidential calls

#59

Post by Medicalidiot »

I got rid of smart speakers a few months ago after being enriched with everyone's perspective on this forum; tech is my hobby, not my career. I have zero regrets. It's a little inconvenient now to not be able to say "play [music]" or "play [show]", instead having to use a remote. But the peace of mind that I'm not being recorded is paid for en masse.

Re: Locked-down lawyers warned Alexa is hearing confidential calls

#60

Post by wolco »

lima wrote: post #56
einpoklum wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I doubt they listen for anything but their keyword > I can't imagine the NSA and other covert organizations not drooling at the chance to do just that. Why doubt? Why imagine? You know that, for data on big corporation's servers, the NSA already gets a copy of everything - and everything is recorded forever without you really being able to delete it. Why would this be so different for voluntary self-espionage d…

> You know that, for data on big corporation's servers, the NSA already gets a copy of everything This is squarely in conspiracy theory realm. Nothing in the Snowden documents or other leaks hinted at this (except for the NSA snooping on unencrypted internal links, which is useless now that everyone encrypts everything). > Why would this be so different for voluntary self-espionage devices (Alex, Dot etc.)? Why would…

The Snowden documents are old now while this has become the hottest gift.

"Why would a big tech company willfully infringe on their customer's privacy?" to comply with a national security order. These companies are not lawless entities fighting for good.

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