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Statistical Analysis shows Echos process voice to serve ads

arxiv.org

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Re: Statistical Analysis shows Echos process voice to serve ads

#21

Post by almost »

mort96 wrote: post #12
malf wrote: post #7

Paper seems to actually show things like “If you install the Fitness skill, Amazon shows you fitness ads”, but that’s less sexy, I guess.

99% of people who read your comment (including me) won't have read the paper. You should cite the parts of the paper which made you come to the conclusion that they really only showed that ads are shown based on what you install, not based on what you say otherwise.

Reading the introduction section should be enough. It’s pretty clear that they’re talking about Amazon targeting ads based on your interactions with the Alexa and not, as the title here implies, based on just listening in to other things you say.

The paper does talk about “voice data” which I think is a bit misleading. “Voice data” to me would imply an analysis of the sounds your voice makes directly for ad targeting purposes but it’s clear enough from the context what they actually mean.

Amazon does plenty of rubish things already, no need for us to make up extra things!

Re: Statistical Analysis shows Echos process voice to serve ads

#22

Post by maccard »

navanchauhan wrote: post #10
fxtentacle wrote: post #8

The problem isn't the lack of knowledge. The problem is lack of alternatives. Name a single privacy preserving smart home assistant that the average person can buy, install, and use. Market theory says people will vote with their wallet, which is why I boycott all of them. But I'm under no delusion that my behavior will change anything. Voting with your wallet only works if someone is willing to offer what you want.

Mycroft? [0] https://mycroft.ai

That falls at the first hurdle - the page you link to says shipping September 2022.

Re: Statistical Analysis shows Echos process voice to serve ads

#23

Post by maccard »

dandare wrote: post #18
greggsy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Siri Data is associated with a random, device-generated identifier. This random identifier is not linked to your Apple ID, email address, or other data Apple may have from your use of other Apple services. Siri Data and your requests are not used to build a marketing profile, and are never sold to anyone." https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/ask-siri-dictati...

A single policy update can reverse all of this.

The same can be said for any commercial offering that you entrust data to. By that metric only fully self managed open source verified hardware is acceptable, right?

Re: Statistical Analysis shows Echos process voice to serve ads

#25

Post by wildmanx »

fxtentacle wrote: post #8

The problem isn't the lack of knowledge. The problem is lack of alternatives. Name a single privacy preserving smart home assistant that the average person can buy, install, and use. Market theory says people will vote with their wallet, which is why I boycott all of them. But I'm under no delusion that my behavior will change anything. Voting with your wallet only works if someone is willing to offer what you want.

> The problem is lack of alternatives. Name a single privacy preserving smart home assistant that the average person can buy, install, and use.

You are implying that all alternatives have to be "buying a smart home assistant". There is another alternative: Don't buy one. If all existing alternatives are bad, then not buying any is also a way to "vote by wallet". Then there will be a big market segment of not-having-bought-yets that can get tapped into by just coming with a privacy-preserving offering.

Re: Statistical Analysis shows Echos process voice to serve ads

#26

Post by wildmanx »

abricq wrote: post #24

I would be SUPER interested to see this same methodology applied to an iPhone or an Android phone resting in a room. I've already had the feeling that discussions that I had, later had an impact on my ads, but never knew if it was random or not.

Given the power demands of such an always-on analysis engine, that would show in battery runtime. At least if it's happening while the device is not plugged in.

Re: Statistical Analysis shows Echos process voice to serve ads

#28

Post by osrec »

abricq wrote: post #24

I would be SUPER interested to see this same methodology applied to an iPhone or an Android phone resting in a room. I've already had the feeling that discussions that I had, later had an impact on my ads, but never knew if it was random or not.

I have mentioned this a number of times here on HN, but each time I'm told by other users that it just appears that way because the topic is fresh in my mind... I don't think that's the case.

Re: Statistical Analysis shows Echos process voice to serve ads

#29

Post by mellavora »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #15
dr_dshiv wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? If I run a store and I learn about my customer’s interests, why shouldn’t I use that to make better offers? I don’t know why people are so freaked out by data collection. I just can’t believe that for all the data I share, I still get such shitty ads.

Ok, you own a store. A customer enters your store and buys a widget. Since you're smart and want to know everything you record the sale and add it to your database. Only that's not where it stops. After the customer leaves the store one of you minions follows him to every other store he ever enters to record what he buys, or even looks at That's why your analogy falls completely flat. Nobody would complain if it only…

Worse! You report this information to government authorities, who monitor this and may decide at a future time that the things you were shopping for today mark you as a bad or suspicious person.

Worse! You also share this information with credit bureaus, meaning the data is available to potential employers. Thus limiting your job options.

Looked at a hookah once because you were curious? Sorry, no pot-heads in my company!

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