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Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

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Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#31

Post by uxp100 »

simion314 wrote: post #12

This devices should by law always have a big LED on when recording, you would have the option to set it's brightness though. Also why could it send data out without any confirmation from the user.

The device is not always visible when you are using it. Amazon Echo has such an LED (at least the one I am familiar with). But it will misinterpret conversations happening in other rooms now and then. It does get confirmations for most things, so the normal scenario for us is this:

Talking loudly in another room. Alexa: "Do you want to send this message to Jim?" "Alexa, you suck"

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#32

Post by wooter »

kinsomo wrote: post #13
simion314 wrote: post #12

This devices should by law always have a big LED on when recording, you would have the option to set it's brightness though. Also why could it send data out without any confirmation from the user.

> This devices should by law always have a big LED on when recording And the LED should be forbidden by law from being software-controlled. They should also have a physical inline toggle switch to disconnect the microphone(s) entirely, whose state is easy to visually confirm.

great way to just have companies add an annoying, always on LED, that wastes energy to avoid lawsuits. how about we let the market regulate, as it is doing currently. did amazon respond faster than the government has on surveillance? yes. should companies that don't abuse their power/neglect their software be punished for all eternity because of amazon's actions? i think not.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#33

Post by ctrl-j »

imrehg wrote: post #21
kinsomo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This devices should by law always have a big LED on when recording And the LED should be forbidden by law from being software-controlled. They should also have a physical inline toggle switch to disconnect the microphone(s) entirely, whose state is easy to visually confirm.

I wonder how would you even do that? It's not a tape recorder, where someone has to physically press a button, there are no moving parts, thus it must be software controlled.

Inline voltage to the microphone? A microphone is still a physical device.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#34

Post by btgeekboy »

asn0 wrote: post #15

Summary of vague technical details (which may be all we hear about this): > an Alexa engineer investigated ... they said 'our engineers went through your logs, and they saw exactly what you told us, they saw exactly what you said happened, and we're sorry.' He apologized like 15 times in a matter of 30 minutes and he said we really appreciate you bringing this to our attention, this is something we need to fix!" > th…

It sounds like she had the voice-activated equivalent of butt-dialing.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#35

Post by f2n »

sjm-lbm wrote: post #24
Someone1234 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does "recording" mean in this context? The way these devices work is they're always "recording" in a loop on a secondary processor looking for the wake word. If we take this request literally the LED would never be off.

I'm not entirely sure that this would be a bad thing. It would set the expectation in customers' minds that the device is always listening, which is at least somewhat true.

No, it would get customers used to ignoring the LEDs on it.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#36

Post by mcny »

softwarefounder wrote: post #14

Pays Amazon for a listening device and installs in home...gets upset when it listens.

I don't know about her but I would be upset not because Amazon recorded private conversation but because they sent it to some random contact on my contact list. I don't want to bother my contacts with my inane ramblings in the privacy of my room.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#37

Post by gsich »

simion314 wrote: post #12

This devices should by law always have a big LED on when recording, you would have the option to set it's brightness though. Also why could it send data out without any confirmation from the user.

The device is always recording. How else would it detect the keyword?

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#38

Post by kinsomo »

imrehg wrote: post #21
kinsomo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This devices should by law always have a big LED on when recording And the LED should be forbidden by law from being software-controlled. They should also have a physical inline toggle switch to disconnect the microphone(s) entirely, whose state is easy to visually confirm.

I wonder how would you even do that? It's not a tape recorder, where someone has to physically press a button, there are no moving parts, thus it must be software controlled.

> where someone has to physically press a button, there are no moving parts, thus it must be software controlled.

If the microphone uses an amplifier, you could wire an LED to light when power is supplied to the amp. The indicator light is physically part of the circuit, so its operation cannot be modified by software. There are probably other, better, ways to do it, I'm not an electronics guy.

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#39

Post by gsich »

wooter wrote: post #32
kinsomo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This devices should by law always have a big LED on when recording And the LED should be forbidden by law from being software-controlled. They should also have a physical inline toggle switch to disconnect the microphone(s) entirely, whose state is easy to visually confirm.

great way to just have companies add an annoying, always on LED, that wastes energy to avoid lawsuits. how about we let the market regulate, as it is doing currently. did amazon respond faster than the government has on surveillance? yes. should companies that don't abuse their power/neglect their software be punished for all eternity because of amazon's actions? i think not.

LED and energy waste? Please...

Re: Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact

#40

Post by fastball »

_jal wrote: post #26

If you bug your own home and consent to third-party, opaque management of the surveillance, things like this will happen[1]. I expect worse to come. [1] Am not saying anyone deserves this, or that AZON is either evil or beneficent, or anything else other than precisely what was stated.

Amazon's ticker is AMZN.
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