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

Amazon Echo

amazon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

601–610 of 746 posts

Re: Amazon Echo

#601

Post by alttab »

champyoyoza wrote: post #482
mcphage wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but how is this that much worse than all the other devices you use? Because the other devices I have have useful purposes besides listening to my speech for sales and advertising purposes. The Echo exists solely for that. It's all it does.

But does that matter? Just because your laptop can also play games/movies/etc. doesn't prevent the NSA or whoever else from tapping into the mic or camera.

this requires additional software to do so. Tapping into a device that essentially already does those things maybe easier?

Re: Amazon Echo

#602

Post by chatmasta »

anilshanbhag wrote: post #529
chatmasta wrote: post #87

This "internet-of-things" trend coincides unfortunately with the "dragnet surveillance" trend. With every new product launch from a "cloud company," I increasingly feel as if I'm reading the tombstone of modern society. The selling point behind these devices is convenience, but at the cost of security. I don't think I need to explain to HN why an always-on, internet connected voice recording device is something to ke…

I feel the general the fear about "dragnet surveillance" is misplaced and uncalled for. As long as you haven't done anything wrong, hearing your conversations should be a total waste of time for whoever made the effort to do so. There are 100 million+ people in America, don't think people from NSA will waste their time on going over family conversations of every family.

There are also 100k+ contractors employed by the NSA and other intelligence agencies. Each one knows hundreds of people, a few of whom might be love interests or otherwise. The Snowden documents demonstrated that querying the database, given only a first and last name, requires very few credentials.

Re: Amazon Echo

#603

Post by jsmeaton »

paul wrote: post #563
chatmasta wrote: post #87

This "internet-of-things" trend coincides unfortunately with the "dragnet surveillance" trend. With every new product launch from a "cloud company," I increasingly feel as if I'm reading the tombstone of modern society. The selling point behind these devices is convenience, but at the cost of security. I don't think I need to explain to HN why an always-on, internet connected voice recording device is something to ke…

Too late. You probably already have a cell phone and probably already carry it with you most of the time.

But that's not constantly transmitting my voice to the internet without my knowledge unless I'm being specifically targetted.

I wouldn't put something like the Echo in my house. Similarly, my Smart TV isn't connected to the internet. But I'm not afraid of carrying a smart phone with me wherever I go.

Two completely different things in my opinion. One requires specific targeting (which I'm OK with to a point), and the other can be collected with a dragnet.

Re: Amazon Echo

#604

Post by possibilistic »

These speech search endpoints should have open APIs so that we can use our own hardware and software. I want to guarantee that whatever device I might ultimately use for such a service isn't openly listening. That would also enable usage of whichever search provider you prefer without needing new vendor-specific hardware. But the first of these benefits is by and large the most important of the two.

Re: Amazon Echo

#605

Post by smellf »

daturkel wrote: post #432
bryanlarsen wrote: post #302

Why I might buy an Echo: - it's a speaker with extra features. At about the same price as a bluetooth speaker, and I need a better one of those, the extra features are basically free as long as the audio quality is good. - it can answer questions at the dinner table. My wife and I both have the annoying habit of pulling out our phones to answer questions that come up during conversation. Asking "Alexa" instead would…

Edit: I missed this: "Plus, Echo is Bluetooth-enabled so you can stream your favorite music services like Spotify, iTunes, and Pandora from your phone or tablet," which obsoletes some of the below. The point on monophonic audio still stands. Out of curiosity, are you already embedded in the amazon cloud music ecosystem? I'm one of those luddites who still has a library of mp3s—I don't want to have to figure out what…

I am also a "library of mp3 luddites", and to me it sounds as though the Echo can do any Bluetooth audio, like a modern head unit. So you might say, "Computer, play Bluetooth audio", or "Computer, skip this track," and it would work just like pressing play and skip in your car.

This may just be wishful thinking on my part, however.

Re: Amazon Echo

#606

Post by [deleted] »

edgarallenbro wrote: post #460
jwallaceparker wrote: post #343

Watch the promo video again and pretend it's the first few minutes of a horror movie. A package arrives on the front porch. The family brings it in and opens it. It's Alexa. It's "for everyone," says Father. The next few days are blissful. Alexa integrates herself into the family. She is indispensable. How did they ever get by without her? Father rushes in from the backyard, "Alexa, how tall is Mt. Everest?" Alexa an…

This is what happens when your production facility is on an Indian burial ground...

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Echo

#607

Post by anigbrowl »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #548
anilshanbhag wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the general the fear about "dragnet surveillance" is misplaced and uncalled for. As long as you haven't done anything wrong, hearing your conversations should be a total waste of time for whoever made the effort to do so. There are 100 million+ people in America, don't think people from NSA will waste their time on going over family conversations of every family.

It doesn't matter if you have nothing to hide. Other people do. Many of those people represent you in various official capacities, and you don't want them being coerced. Maybe some of your friends and family members have something to hide. Also, I find it very difficult to relate to the whole, "I have nothing to hide, so fuck all the other people who do," attitude that many people seem to have.

What you're missing is that people who don't have anything to hide don't want to be forced to adopt hiding practices, even though that might benefit other people. The choice to give away privacy in return for convenience is as much a feature of liberty as the choice to do the opposite, notwithstanding the disutility for a minority that can arise as a result of network effects.

Re: Amazon Echo

#608

Post by bduerst »

orbifold wrote: post #416
discipline wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you must be joking. The burden of proof in an argument has to be borne by the one making the claim. If you claim you saw a UFO, the burden of proof is on you. The burden of proof does not fall on everyone else to prove that what you saw could NOT, in any way, shape, or form, possibly be a UFO.

It is established by now that various government agencies all over the world routinely monitor web traffic, tap phones and install trojans on computers. There is no doubt in my mind that an internet connected listening device would be exploited.

That's not proof of my privacy being violated though.

The probability that my privacy was compromised by a mandatory court subpoena is very low, hence the person used "rarely touched privacy".

Premising your argument about government agencies all over the world is argumentum ad absurdum.

Re: Amazon Echo

#609

Post by robert_tweed »

IgorPartola wrote: post #377
jwallaceparker wrote: post #343

Watch the promo video again and pretend it's the first few minutes of a horror movie. A package arrives on the front porch. The family brings it in and opens it. It's Alexa. It's "for everyone," says Father. The next few days are blissful. Alexa integrates herself into the family. She is indispensable. How did they ever get by without her? Father rushes in from the backyard, "Alexa, how tall is Mt. Everest?" Alexa an…

Hah. After reading this, I really kind of want Amazon to release a version of this that looks like HAL. They should embrace their dark side.

I nearly fell off my chair laughing at the Kubrick-esque shots of "Alexa" in the foreground, watching the out-of-focus humans cooking, sleeping, going about their daily lives. Always watching. Always learning. Always Getting Smarter.

Whoever made this ad knew exactly what they were doing.

Re: Amazon Echo

#610

Post by tagawa »

jberryman wrote: post #575
jwallaceparker wrote: post #343

Watch the promo video again and pretend it's the first few minutes of a horror movie. A package arrives on the front porch. The family brings it in and opens it. It's Alexa. It's "for everyone," says Father. The next few days are blissful. Alexa integrates herself into the family. She is indispensable. How did they ever get by without her? Father rushes in from the backyard, "Alexa, how tall is Mt. Everest?" Alexa an…

Enjoy: http://youtubedoubler.com/dOPY

Brilliant! Thank you.

Off topic: And good to know about that site. I've always wanted to be able to match the space shuttle backflip with this music: http://youtubedoubler.com/dOSz

Post reply on HN