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I really hate articles like this, because on the one hand I'm a total privacy nut and believe that the passive of surveillance of modern society has a terrifyin

I really hate articles like this, because on the one hand I'm a total privacy nut and believe that the passive of surveillance of modern society has a terrifying and terrible chilling effect that really could end civil society as we know it. But I am quadriplegic. This means that without these devices I would be unable to control my house the way I do, because of the moment I have about 4 Amazon echoes, Google home and various other ways of monitoring me (and controlling the house). It really really chaps my arse to have to give up this much personal information to be able to control my house, but I honestly don't see another way of squaring the circle. Not directly related to the article, just a perspective I thought some of you might find interesting. Edited to add: When I say I hate these articles, what I meant was not that they shouldn't be written because I think they are very valuable. I meant that they make me feel sad about the current state of surveillance on the Internet.

banku_brougham 9y ago
I read the article expecting something new, but it just goes on interminably with objections that we all know about from the snowden era. Nothing is really specific to the voice data, its germane to every device connected to the internet. So I too dislike articles like this, the title is misleading and the text was not compelling.
- escapologybb 9y ago
  While I agree with the sentiment that it doesn't tell us anything we don't already know from the Snowden era, I really do think we have to keep banging on about the Snowden revelations. They (The revelations) really do need to stick in the public consciousness, not just in the consciousness of the hive on HN. Because honestly, the only substantive privacy changes I've seen in the UK are terrible ones and that scares the crap out of me. But I have absolutely no idea how to convey the simple idea to people that are not in the tech world that "if it's connected to the Internet, don't consider it private", which I'd love to be proved wrong about but I really don't think I am.

banku_brougham 9y ago

I read the article expecting something new, but it just goes on interminably with objections that we all know about from the snowden era. Nothing is really specific to the voice data, its germane to every device connected to the internet. So I too dislike articles like this, the title is misleading and the text was not compelling.

escapologybb 9y ago
While I agree with the sentiment that it doesn't tell us anything we don't already know from the Snowden era, I really do think we have to keep banging on about the Snowden revelations. They (The revelations) really do need to stick in the public consciousness, not just in the consciousness of the hive on HN. Because honestly, the only substantive privacy changes I've seen in the UK are terrible ones and that scares the crap out of me. But I have absolutely no idea how to convey the simple idea to people that are not in the tech world that "if it's connected to the Internet, don't consider it private", which I'd love to be proved wrong about but I really don't think I am.