Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer • Hacker News Board

Re: Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer

#101

Post by jlgaddis » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 10:11 PM UTC

itchyjunk wrote: post #53

Lot of people are already bringing up various concerns. I hope this is precisely what it does here in HN and outside. Talk about concerns regarding about these devices. Is there anyway for end user to know what "wake up" keywords are? How do I know it's not listening for keywords like "buy" (example: "You should `buy` milk") and then targeting adds that way? What happens next time FBI decides it wants google (et. all…

> What happens next time FBI decides it was [sic] google to leave its device "always awake" on some person of interest ?

It seems like figuring out how to exploit these types of devices to be "always-on listening devices" is exactly the type of thing NSA, et al., would be interested in doing.

Re: Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer

#102

Post by vkou » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 10:12 PM UTC

temp-dude-87844 wrote: post #62

siliconc0w wrote: post #13

I think this is technically a violation of the CFAA right?

Not really. A criminal offense would only apply if the smart device can be construed as a 'protected computer' involved in interstate commerce; a civil complaint is only possible if the plaintiff suffers one or more of an enumerated list of 'loss' [1], neither of which appears to be a good fit for the interaction without a serious stretch. [1] https://ilt.eff.org/index.php/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act_(...

These devices absolutely engage in interstate commerce.

Re: Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer

#103

Post by chc » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 10:16 PM UTC

zepto wrote: post #96

chc wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am and I would. I don't care if a computer is passively listening for a prompt — the computer has no consciousness and it doesn't do anything I'd even notice. I do care if somebody is trying to make my device do something without my OK.

Nobody is talking about conscious computers here. The issue is recorded conversions from your home being made available to the government: https://www.inc.com/joseph-steinberg/amazon-alexa-recordings...

This does not particularly concern me, as Alexa only transmits when you trigger it and stops transmitting soon afterward. If that's too much for you, I'm not going to try to change your preferences. All I'm saying is, I'm OK with a device that is constantly listening for a trigger, and I'm OK with a device transmitting messages at my request, but that doesn't mean I'm OK with advertisers attempting to exploit the device.

Re: Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer

#104

Post by username223 » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 10:17 PM UTC

itchyjunk wrote: post #53

Lot of people are already bringing up various concerns. I hope this is precisely what it does here in HN and outside. Talk about concerns regarding about these devices. Is there anyway for end user to know what "wake up" keywords are? How do I know it's not listening for keywords like "buy" (example: "You should `buy` milk") and then targeting adds that way? What happens next time FBI decides it wants google (et. all…

> On a side note, do these devices only capture human audible range of signals?

I wonder about this one. Everyone's device has the same "password" (i.e. "wake word"), the device is attached to your home network and associated with your credit card, and programmatic ads apparently receive little to no vetting. Even if there are no bugs in the code that sends the audio to Google/Amazon and deals with the results, I'm reminded of an article here awhile back about researchers creating special eyeglass frames to make one face look like a completely different one to modern zillion-parameter facial recognition algorithms. This will not end well.

Re: Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer

#105

Post by dvtv75 » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 10:17 PM UTC

squozzer wrote: post #42

crowbahr wrote: post #11

Just another reason not to watch cable I guess. I can't believe that those ad execs really believe that people want intrusions like that. That they'd want the TV to hack their Home into advertising to them. That's just bullshit. Google should change the autoresponse for burger king. "Hey Google what is a whopper?" "A whopper is a tall tale which clever executives want to sell you but really tastes of cardboard"

I prefer the answer, "The Whopper is a popular sandwich sold by Burger King. Its primary component is ground muscle fiber obtained from the species homo sapiens."

So you're saying that it's "of the people, by the people, for the people"?

Re: Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer

#106

Post by Mithaldu » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 10:20 PM UTC

This is not just annoying, it is outright dangerous. If any of the viewers are doing anything important on their phones, the task switch interruption might have real effects on them, or cause them to lose data.

Re: Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer

#107

Post by mabbo » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 10:21 PM UTC

kej wrote: post #88

evan_ wrote: post #55

I guess this ruins my get-rich-quick scheme: 1. Publish an album with 1000 short, quiet tracks and a very unique name to all of the online streaming services 2. Buy ads on late-night television with a very clear voice that says "OK Google, play album . Alexa, play album . Hey Siri, play album ." 3. Rack up the fraction-of-a-penny residuals as my songs play to people who've fallen asleep with the television on!

I wonder if it's possible to trigger one of these smart speakers from its own output. If so, the last track on your album could be the command to "play album ".

There's a wonderful video online of that. Alexa, Siri and Google each tell the next one "you have one appointment today, it is 'hey [next bot] what's in my calendar today?'".

Re: Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer

#108

Post by jlgaddis » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 10:22 PM UTC

breakingcups wrote: post #16

Isn't this technically an unauthorized use of my device?

I don't necessarily agree with this argument but... it seems that by intentionally purchasing and installing in your home a device explicitly designed to respond upon hearing the phrase "OK, Google, ..." one could argue that you have authorized it to do exactly that.

Perhaps you didn't intend or expect it to be co-opted by a Burger King commercial, but "unauthorized use" (in the legal sense) might be a bit of a stretch.

Re: Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer

#109

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 10:26 PM UTC

alphapapa wrote: post #75

lancefisher wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence.

Never reason based on meaningless aphorisms. This particular one leaves you completely vulnerable to trivial deception. Want to get away with something evil? Just pretend to be dumb, make it look like you don't know what you're doing, then people on the Internet will defend you as "merely incompetent, not evil." Besides, did you even read the article? Burger King is doing this on purpose! Says so in the first paragra…

[deleted]

Re: Burger King TV Ad Asks, Hoping Google Home Devices Answer

#110

Post by squarefoot » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 10:26 PM UTC

squarefoot wrote: post #41

100% off topic, but someone had to post this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA

to whomever dislikes my post, you may not like the video (it's irony, baby) but so called "vertical videos" are a plague that infects TV news as well when they air videos contributed by various people. If you have a better way to remember people how wrong and stupid is that way of handling the cellphone when filming, then I'm open to suggestion.