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If they lose this case, this entire product category goes in the shitter. No one wants a government listening device in their house, which is essentially what

If they lose this case, this entire product category goes in the shitter. No one wants a government listening device in their house, which is essentially what this is if the government can issue a search warrant for recordings.

x1798DE 10y ago
I would love for that to be the case, but I really doubt that it would be. No one wants a government tracking device on them at all times, but I don't see people abandoning cell phones en masse because the government can get a warrant for your location data from cell phone data towers and/or Google.
- cgriswald 10y ago
  I see a huge difference between a device that records its location (not mine, even if the two are largely correlated) and one that records the things I say in my own home. A cell phone can be used to record your voice or even video, but there are technical, legal, and logistical hurdles to cross to enable that functionality for a given phone. Alexa, in contrast, is always on with the technical and logistical hurdles already leapt and the legal one a fairly low bar if Amazon loses here. I can definitely see people abandoning a brand of phone that features always on audio and/or video recording that can later be used by law enforcement (although the frequency with which gf uses snapchat, maybe not...)
deong 10y ago
I think you just argued that Americans won't buy a phone.
harryh 10y ago
Would you like to make a wager supporting this view? I will bet you $1000 that combined sales of Amazon Echos + Google Homes will be bigger in 2017 than they were in 2016. (The bet is off and no one wins if Amazon wins the case as your prediction becomes untestable.)
- IanDrake 10y ago
  Ha! Yeah, I probably wouldn't take that bet...too short term. Long term...I might be right though, assuming a few things... 1) The product category goes main stream, which it hasn't even touched yet. 2) The government uses it as source of information over and over. 3) The mass media actually covers it. I have changed my behavior based on court cases. The government can force me to touch my phone to login, but I don't have to give up my passcode. So I always turn off my phone when going through TSA, which forces it to require my passcode on restart. I realize I'm probably in the minority here.

x1798DE 10y ago

I would love for that to be the case, but I really doubt that it would be. No one wants a government tracking device on them at all times, but I don't see people abandoning cell phones en masse because the government can get a warrant for your location data from cell phone data towers and/or Google.

cgriswald 10y ago
I see a huge difference between a device that records its location (not mine, even if the two are largely correlated) and one that records the things I say in my own home. A cell phone can be used to record your voice or even video, but there are technical, legal, and logistical hurdles to cross to enable that functionality for a given phone. Alexa, in contrast, is always on with the technical and logistical hurdles already leapt and the legal one a fairly low bar if Amazon loses here. I can definitely see people abandoning a brand of phone that features always on audio and/or video recording that can later be used by law enforcement (although the frequency with which gf uses snapchat, maybe not...)

deong 10y ago

I think you just argued that Americans won't buy a phone.

harryh 10y ago

Would you like to make a wager supporting this view? I will bet you $1000 that combined sales of Amazon Echos + Google Homes will be bigger in 2017 than they were in 2016. (The bet is off and no one wins if Amazon wins the case as your prediction becomes untestable.)

IanDrake 10y ago
Ha! Yeah, I probably wouldn't take that bet...too short term. Long term...I might be right though, assuming a few things... 1) The product category goes main stream, which it hasn't even touched yet. 2) The government uses it as source of information over and over. 3) The mass media actually covers it. I have changed my behavior based on court cases. The government can force me to touch my phone to login, but I don't have to give up my passcode. So I always turn off my phone when going through TSA, which forces it to require my passcode on restart. I realize I'm probably in the minority here.