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I still don't understand the desire to have any sort of electronics constantly listening for commands. In the balance between convenience and privacy, to me, de

I still don't understand the desire to have any sort of electronics constantly listening for commands. In the balance between convenience and privacy, to me, devices like this don't seem to add enough value to draw me in.

conductr 9y ago
I agree. It's weird as f* having every word spoke in my home recorded. I guess they say they're not recording, but you know they are or will soon.
- grillvogel 9y ago
  they are recording, there was a murder case recently that used the alexa voice recordings as evidence
  - linkregister 9y ago
    Is that how it happened?
  - hbosch 9y ago
    Incorrect. Police asked Amazon for a murder suspect's Alexa history, and Amazon initially refused until the suspect/customer gave permission. It is yet to be proven if anything was recorded without the wakeword.
  - eric_the_read 9y ago
    All we know is that the recordings were requested by the prosecution; we have no idea what, if anything, is included in them. In particular, we do NOT know if anything other than the wake word, followed by a few seconds of query, is included. Everything else we've learned, including Amazon's own statements on what is recorded and transmitted, suggests that nothing else is included.
- sib 9y ago
  They are not recording (other than when the wake word has been detected, correctly or incorrectly.)
  - jeffbax 9y ago
    I thought Alexa recorded all the time, maintaining a buffer so that it seemed to respond faster once it caught you saying the magic words
    - sib 9y ago
      The device is maintaining a short (<1 sec) buffer at all times. The device is Echo; Alexa is the cloud-side service, which is definitely not getting the audio until the wake-word is spotted and then streaming begins (backing up to the beginning of the buffer).
tene 9y ago
Speaking personally, I've never managed to work out any real, practical concerns with devices, services, and situations like this. To start, I haven't seen any reason to be more concerned about Google Home than I am about my Pixel phone, which is not only "constantly listening", but also accompanies me everywhere I go outside my home. I never leave my phone somewhere else when I'm at home, so... what's the difference if I add an extra microphone/speaker to the system already in-place? Even besides that, I've never managed to work out what people who cite privacy concerns are actually worried about; I've never managed to come up with any scenario that both seems worrying and seems to me like it has any plausible chance of actually happening. If we imagine a hypothetical counterfactual world where Google records everything ever spoken in my home or near my phone, retains these records forever, and analyzes them and uses the analysis to choose which ads to show me, and promptly responds to any requests by law enforcement for recordings with no hesitation or review process, and recordings are available for people at the company to listen to... what would happen that I would be upset about? Fewer poorly-targeted ads? Law enforcement having a slightly more-trivial time than usual locking me in a cage if I happen to offend a law-enforcement officer? Someone I'll never meet listens to me having sex? It might be the case that I just happen to have a life situation that's uniquely stable and not susceptible to being fired for political opinions or whatever the risk is... but I don't think my attitudes and risk evaluation here are really all that unusual. I speculate without evidence that most people just really don't care if they're being watched unless it's going to have practical consequences.
- stevewillows 9y ago
  I recognize that Google isn't recording everything said, etc. However, with video (tv, internet) ads prompting these devices to search [1], its not something I have an interest in participating in. Ultimately, for me, it boils down to a lack of benefit for me, and a lot of benefit (current and potential) for Google and these other ad-drivers to track my decisions more than I really want or need them to. As it stands, I live a fairly ad-free life, either through payment or blockers --- so the targeted ads are less of a concern. Law enforcement concerns are also extremely limited, as are political (null). I just don't see the benefits. If I need to know the current weather, I'll look outside. If I need to search something, it'll never be so important that it can't wait until I sit down at my computer. I guess, overall, I'm less concerned about the privacy aspect as I am the actual personal benefit of these devices. In my mind I relate it to the Dash buttons. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5lj63-nc5g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5lj63-nc5g

conductr 9y ago

I agree. It's weird as f* having every word spoke in my home recorded. I guess they say they're not recording, but you know they are or will soon.

grillvogel 9y ago
they are recording, there was a murder case recently that used the alexa voice recordings as evidence
- linkregister 9y ago
  Is that how it happened?
- hbosch 9y ago
  Incorrect. Police asked Amazon for a murder suspect's Alexa history, and Amazon initially refused until the suspect/customer gave permission. It is yet to be proven if anything was recorded without the wakeword.
- eric_the_read 9y ago
  All we know is that the recordings were requested by the prosecution; we have no idea what, if anything, is included in them. In particular, we do NOT know if anything other than the wake word, followed by a few seconds of query, is included. Everything else we've learned, including Amazon's own statements on what is recorded and transmitted, suggests that nothing else is included.
sib 9y ago
They are not recording (other than when the wake word has been detected, correctly or incorrectly.)
- jeffbax 9y ago
  I thought Alexa recorded all the time, maintaining a buffer so that it seemed to respond faster once it caught you saying the magic words
  - sib 9y ago
    The device is maintaining a short (<1 sec) buffer at all times. The device is Echo; Alexa is the cloud-side service, which is definitely not getting the audio until the wake-word is spotted and then streaming begins (backing up to the beginning of the buffer).

tene 9y ago

Speaking personally, I've never managed to work out any real, practical concerns with devices, services, and situations like this. To start, I haven't seen any reason to be more concerned about Google Home than I am about my Pixel phone, which is not only "constantly listening", but also accompanies me everywhere I go outside my home. I never leave my phone somewhere else when I'm at home, so... what's the difference if I add an extra microphone/speaker to the system already in-place? Even besides that, I've never managed to work out what people who cite privacy concerns are actually worried about; I've never managed to come up with any scenario that both seems worrying and seems to me like it has any plausible chance of actually happening. If we imagine a hypothetical counterfactual world where Google records everything ever spoken in my home or near my phone, retains these records forever, and analyzes them and uses the analysis to choose which ads to show me, and promptly responds to any requests by law enforcement for recordings with no hesitation or review process, and recordings are available for people at the company to listen to... what would happen that I would be upset about? Fewer poorly-targeted ads? Law enforcement having a slightly more-trivial time than usual locking me in a cage if I happen to offend a law-enforcement officer? Someone I'll never meet listens to me having sex? It might be the case that I just happen to have a life situation that's uniquely stable and not susceptible to being fired for political opinions or whatever the risk is... but I don't think my attitudes and risk evaluation here are really all that unusual. I speculate without evidence that most people just really don't care if they're being watched unless it's going to have practical consequences.

stevewillows 9y ago
I recognize that Google isn't recording everything said, etc. However, with video (tv, internet) ads prompting these devices to search [1], its not something I have an interest in participating in. Ultimately, for me, it boils down to a lack of benefit for me, and a lot of benefit (current and potential) for Google and these other ad-drivers to track my decisions more than I really want or need them to. As it stands, I live a fairly ad-free life, either through payment or blockers --- so the targeted ads are less of a concern. Law enforcement concerns are also extremely limited, as are political (null). I just don't see the benefits. If I need to know the current weather, I'll look outside. If I need to search something, it'll never be so important that it can't wait until I sit down at my computer. I guess, overall, I'm less concerned about the privacy aspect as I am the actual personal benefit of these devices. In my mind I relate it to the Dash buttons. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5lj63-nc5g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5lj63-nc5g