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

Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 178 posts

Re: Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

#131

Post by hunter2_ »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #101
hunter2_ wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't that model be pushed out to each local device on a regular basis, and sending back the dynamic enhancements of the local copy (from your own usage) could be opt-in? The master wouldn't grow nearly as quickly, but it could be a decent compromise. Or maybe it would grow almost as quickly, if its owner also had a fully hosted option that enough people used.

ML models (depending on how implemented and the scope thereof) can be _massive_ (as in gigabytes to terabytes).

So maybe not on each of your devices, but on your home server. Something fewer people even have these days, but the ones who want this level of privacy might go for it.

Re: Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

#132

Post by buro9 »

jimrandomh wrote: post #129
SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which makes WAY more sense than a range outside of human hearing that OP implicated ("inaudible"). Expecting TV's to play tones outside the range people can hear is ridiculous.

TV channels already contain inaudible-sound identifiers. Nielsen has people put listeners in their homes, and uses the identifiers to track which channels are getting played.

Er... holy shit to the thought that (Alexa|Assistant|Siri) + Neilsen (or just by Google) could monitor advert viewing in millions of homes.

Re: Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

#133

Post by saagarjha »

mkirklions wrote: post #89
sillyquiet wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as what Apple iphone does better? Privacy, os updates, integration with my Mac, App store apps, and a bunch of other things. But that all is completely besides the point. Even if there were nothing at all iPhones do better, it's a bit absurd to go from 'well apple is not better than android' to 'people therefore only buy apple because they are shallow'

Has it been a while since you used an alternative? All of those seem like expected features in any OS/phone.

What other phone does this?

Re: Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

#134

Post by mynameisvlad »

0xCMP wrote: post #100
crowbahr wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come now, on a tech and hacking website of all places we should all be better informed than this. There is a voice activation only chip tied directly into the lights that only listens for commands. Once the activation is heard it sends it off to the servers to get processed etc. With everyone scrutinizing the web traffic around them trying to prove NSA/Google spying with them we'd definitely have found something by n…

I can't find the article, but there was a post where someone turned on the Audible Alert of when it was listening and it began listening for a lot of times. They also said they found a lot of recordings in their Google History that really shouldn't have been there. Here's another article about the history: https://qz.com/526545/googles-been-quietly-recording-your-vo...

Are you talking about the Google Home Minis? Because that was a hardware defect with its capacitive sensors that caused them to completely remove the feature:

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/10/11/16462572/...

Re: Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

#135

Post by gus_massa »

Normal_gaussian wrote: post #115
chatmasta wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could spend $3 and get a kitchen timer that you can slap to start, and beeps when it’s done!

Alexa has named timers, which means you can time multiple things (a common occurrence in cookery). It is also voice activated, which means it can be done when your hands are full (another common occurrence in cookery).

It looks like nice product request that someone here can make with knowledge in the area. Perhaps a kickstarter.

Re: Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

#136

Post by mynameisvlad »

mkirklions wrote: post #77
mulletbum wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone who likes iPhones owns one, so that removes status. Personal anecdote, I dislike Apple computers, but I like their phones. So I am at least one person who doesn't buy them for brand. This notion is outdated.

Can you explain what is good about their phones? Things that drive me crazy- >No widgets >constant reminders to sign-in >constant reminders to update >no double tap/settings seem harder to find >Finger print scanner sucks so bad. >Little annoyances like the animations to change screen take 0.5 seconds too long. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be enjoying on my iphone.

> Finger print scanner sucks so bad.

This is demonstrably false. iPhone's second-gen Touch ID sensor is one of, if not the best in the business. It's fast and ridiculously accurate, and is the reason people were disappointed in Face ID when it was first released.

Re: Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

#137

Post by jedberg »

jimrandomh wrote: post #129
SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which makes WAY more sense than a range outside of human hearing that OP implicated ("inaudible"). Expecting TV's to play tones outside the range people can hear is ridiculous.

TV channels already contain inaudible-sound identifiers. Nielsen has people put listeners in their homes, and uses the identifiers to track which channels are getting played.

> and uses the identifiers to track which channels are getting played.

I don't think they're using infrasound for that. I think they use a technology similar to Shazam where it just analyzes the sound to determine what's on.

Re: Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

#138

Post by osteele »

GW150914 wrote: post #78
baxtr wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the main title would be too long if it included “and google’s voice assistant”

This was the title I used, it must have been changed: “Alexa and Siri Can Hear This Hidden Command. You Can’t.” I couldn’t have added the subtitle because as you say, it would have been too long.

"Alexa, Siri, and Google Home, can hear inaudible commands"

"Alexa, Siri, and Google Home, can hear commands that humans can't"

Re: Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

#139

Post by sailfast »

tomcam wrote: post #91
mkirklions wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to get rid of my alexa, but my wife uses it as a kitchen timer. We literally dont use it for anything else. Might get one of those philips light sets since our living room is weird... Tbh, id rather not use alexa..

I use my iPhone for that

Gotta be hands free in the kitchen! Hard to use your iPhone when you're covered in raw turkey.

Re: Alexa and Siri Can Hear Hidden Commands

#140

Post by notsofastbuddy »

saagarjha wrote: post #128

> Amazon said that it doesn’t disclose specific security measures, but it has taken steps to ensure its Echo smart speaker is secure. So, security by obscurity?

> So, security by obscurity?

Obscurity is a perfectly valid layer in a security system. It's just not sufficient as the primary security mechanism.

Post reply on HN