This is a fantastic idea! Although it is pretty sad that it is needed in the first place.
Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy
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Re: Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy
#12Hm, I don't quite understand how this works. So, if you say "Alias", then Alias has a built-in speaker that whispers "Hey Google" (or the equivalent) into the microphone. What if I start the question before Alias has finished analyzing my speech and playing the "Hey Google"?
Re: Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy
#13This is a brilliant idea. I'm curious about a lot of the implementation specifics like how audible the white noise is in a silent room and what kind of UX trade offs it brings.
Yeah, I'm wondering how it should work when you say the wake word too. Like if I say "Sister Assumpta, what's the weather like?" is it just going to repeat the same command but replace "Sister Assumpta" with "Hey Google?" Thus slowing the whole thing down?
The article says that after your keyword it deactivates the white noise wall for a while, and whispers the original keyword. So alexa / google / siri will hear you directly.
Re: Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy
#14I love this idea. I've wanted to do something similar for a long time, but I was thinking about building a home assistant where the always-on mic was a complete separate board that only listened for wake words and had no internet access. The main mic would only be powered on when the smaller board woke it up. Alias achieves the same thing in a much simpler way to where I might actually consider buying a home assistan…
Explain how this is an improvement?
Re: Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy
#15I still think voting with your wallet and not buying the devices is the better tack. This just normalizes the notion that they are always listening, qnd the best we can do is pay for the hardware and then hack around it? Bollocks.
Re: Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy
#16I love this idea. I've wanted to do something similar for a long time, but I was thinking about building a home assistant where the always-on mic was a complete separate board that only listened for wake words and had no internet access. The main mic would only be powered on when the smaller board woke it up. Alias achieves the same thing in a much simpler way to where I might actually consider buying a home assistan…
Explain how this is an improvement?
I'm wondering this too.
Like hey, let's install some under developed AI from some unknown company with unknown security policies on top of a device with access to hordes of personal data and the ability to make transactions online.
No hacker will EVER think to use it as an attack vector /s
Re: Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy
#17I love this idea. I've wanted to do something similar for a long time, but I was thinking about building a home assistant where the always-on mic was a complete separate board that only listened for wake words and had no internet access. The main mic would only be powered on when the smaller board woke it up. Alias achieves the same thing in a much simpler way to where I might actually consider buying a home assistan…
Explain how this is an improvement?
you just put it on top of your device, instead of needing to modify the electronics of your potentially expensive and complicated home assistant?
Re: Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy
#18Hm, I don't quite understand how this works. So, if you say "Alias", then Alias has a built-in speaker that whispers "Hey Google" (or the equivalent) into the microphone. What if I start the question before Alias has finished analyzing my speech and playing the "Hey Google"?
For a pre-defined wake word, it should be pretty fast. It could also cache your query if it is still waiting for google home's response.
Re: Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy
#19So doesn't Alexa already not record until you say the trigger word? If we don't trust that that is the case, then sure this device covers that, but it doesn't change the fact that they are still collecting data on every command you issue to the device.
Re: Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy
#20You could also just not buy one of those awful things. I have never seen a legitimate use for it that wasn't misplaced adolescent tech fantasies (omg I can tell big brother to make coffee and my keurig starts up!). But maybe my line of business has made me excessively paranoid / niche
I would like to make an edit: functionality for those with disabilities is a huge use-case I did not consider. Thank you for your insightful comments