Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

discuss.systems

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 696 posts

Re: The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

#291

Post by xandrius »

bko wrote: post #264
kzrdude wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have to ask ourselves what we want. Because it's not GDP, you can't eat GDP or sleep under it, you can't even withdraw it from the bank. So more directly, how does it influence our life? (Of course GDP influences our life to some extent.)

Take pretty much any quality of life thing. Just as one example Mississippi: The average home size 2,065 square feet United Kingdom: The average home size is 818 square feet No, you cannot "eat GDP", but its a useful proxy as it correlates very highly to a lot of things we do care about

Population density

Mississipi: 24.5/km2

UK: 279/km2

Maybe, only maybe, that has an effect on house sizes?

Re: The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

#292

Post by robertlagrant »

flawn wrote: post #284
robertlagrant wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a kind of stoic virtue signal that may make people feel more mature for agreeing, but fails to fix issues while mocking people who try to make a difference. None of these comments are fixing issues or trying to make a difference. Sending the product back is a really good idea, especially if this change in terms means you can get a refund even if you've had it a long time.

Still not an argument against people being allowed to be mad regarding this. You just can't give a fuck about data privacy and expect people to not oppose this and speak up.

> being allowed to be mad

No one can stop you being mad. No one's saying it's not allowed. It's possible someone is still young enough to misinterpret adult interactions as parental fiat, but it's not the case.

Re: The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

#293

Post by oa335 »

eadmund wrote: post #194
tanepiper wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laughs in European Consumer Protection How's that "break regulation to innovate" working out for US?

Well, the per-capita GDP of the poorest U.S. state — Mississippi — is greater than that of the U.K., France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Poland and many others, and within 10% of Finland, Germany, Belgium and Austria. 34 of the 47 European states have lower per-capita GDPs than Mississippi. The median per-capita U.S. state GDP is $78,649; the median per-capita European state GDP is $28,713. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.or…

I’d wager that the median European is happier and healthier than the median Mississippian.

Re: The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

#294

Post by h2zizzle »

eadmund wrote: post #194
tanepiper wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laughs in European Consumer Protection How's that "break regulation to innovate" working out for US?

Well, the per-capita GDP of the poorest U.S. state — Mississippi — is greater than that of the U.K., France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Poland and many others, and within 10% of Finland, Germany, Belgium and Austria. 34 of the 47 European states have lower per-capita GDPs than Mississippi. The median per-capita U.S. state GDP is $78,649; the median per-capita European state GDP is $28,713. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.or…

Mississippi is perhaps a poor example to use, as its wealth is highly concentrated, as well as segregated along racial lines. It houses some very affluent communities and also some with open sewers or no public utilities at all, and a state house entirely unconcerned about reconciling the two because it's been gerrymandered to hell in order to prevent the ethnic group that makes up nearly 40% of its population from having anywhere near commensurate representation.

Re: The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

#295

Post by danaris »

delecti wrote: post #254
etrautmann wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why do we need these in the first place? I have a free Apple home that I can’t find much of a use for aside from being a speaker. Is it that hard to get the weather or turn lights off from your phone? I definitely don’t want to order products from an audio interface. What else am I missing?

What if you aren't currently holding your phone, with it unlocked and the (probably slow to load) app open? What if you don't have switched outlets, and want to turn off lights either a) when the room is still dark, or b) when you're leaving the room? Voice assistants are not a revolution in home living, but lets not go too far in the other direction and ignore that they do still have useful features.

I can generally speak to my iPhone and have it recognize and carry out what I say when it's still in its holster on my hip.

Anything that's set up in HomeKit is directly accessible through Siri, and IME most smart-home devices these days support HomeKit, even if they have their own apps as well.

So I don't need to have any app open, or my phone unlocked or even in my hand, in order to turn on and off the smart outlets I have in my house.

(That said, I also have a HomePod mini, because not everyone in my house keeps their phone on their person at all times—plus it's a nice speaker for the kitchen.)

Re: The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

#296

Post by latexr »

Nextgrid wrote: post #255
bayindirh wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GDPR says "hi". If users don't consent, Amazon can't collect. If users exercise their rights to be forgotten, Amazon has to delete. If Amazon breaks the thing because users have not consented, then Amazon will be on the hook for breaching the contract. "It was working until yesterday, how come?" EU will ask.

There is no downside to breaching the GDPR, as demonstrated by Facebook and Google still being in business. The fines, if they ever arrive, are merely the cost of doing business - a small tax.

Clearly it is not true that there are no downsides, because those companies had to change behaviours and offer more data protections as a result. The goal of GDPR is not to bankrupt companies, but to fix behaviours.

I do agree fines take too long to come and are too small.

Re: The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

#297

Post by krsdcbl »

when technological advancements that actually would allow for BETTER privacy and security, and MORE local-only features are misappropriated for constructing bogus and dishonest justifications to rather erode the least-effort user-minded safeguards that already had been present, it's become plain obvious that the claim to create a product that serves the user has always been a lie. It's about capturing data and influence, and always has been

Re: The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

#298

Post by crims0n »

bsenftner wrote: post #267

This event has been written on the walls of the USA since those smart speakers and cel phones first appeared. The average US citizen has been conditioned to believe the 'regulation' is 'evil government' and not protection from established abusive practices - that's how regulations get created: someone (usually a corporation) abuses a public resource or good so extremely that laws are written to prevent that. Of cours…

I think you are vastly underestimating how many of us choose to play the game, whilst simultaneously being aware of how shitty it is.

Re: The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

#299

Post by Aeolun »

throwaway73750 wrote: post #276
chillingeffect wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mississippi is the chronic showcase of american wealth inequality. Mississippi has the lowest life expectancy in the U.S. (about 73 years), significantly lower than the national average (77). Mississippi has the lowest median household income in the U.S. (about $52,000 in 2022), compared to a U.S. median of around $75,000. Mississippi has high rates of obesity, diabetes, and preventable diseases, partly due to poor h…

[dead]

> According to what parameters?

That it’s actually usable? Great healthcare is pointless if you cannot afford to go to the doctor.

> 88% of the adult population (age over 18) in Missisipi has attained at least a High School degree. [3]

Sure, but what standard of high school degree?

Re: The Alexa feature "do not send voice recordings" you enabled no longer available

#300

Post by fidelramos »

whiplash451 wrote: post #189
everdrive wrote: post #186

People don't really care about privacy, it's as simple as that. Yes, they worry about privacy, and complain about violations of privacy. But if they cared, they never would have purchased this product in the first place. There are bits of technology which violate privacy, but are extremely difficult to fully avoid: Social Media, (I know a lot of HN isn't on it, but how about most of your family and friends?) smart ph…

This kind of apathic statement is not very useful. By your logic, we should not care about climate change either. "People don't care about privacy" doesn't mean that regulators and the tech community should not lead a charge.

I read OP as in "they just don't care about privacy [enough to change their behavior]", and in that sense I fully agree.

Same can be said about climate change. Sure they worry and complain, but when pointing out concrete measures they can take, basically nobody does.

Complaining is easy.

Post reply on HN