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The privacy thing is a little overblown by people that don't understand the technology. Google Home, Amazon Echo, and all others do the same thing, they are co

The privacy thing is a little overblown by people that don't understand the technology. Google Home, Amazon Echo, and all others do the same thing, they are continuously "listening" but only within the device itself. Audio is looped through an on-device audio processor which looks for the wake-word. If the wake-word is found that audio is sent to the cloud, but otherwise it just loops back over itself wiping out the previous audio sample. This can be easily verified with network monitoring or by reading about e.g. Qualcomm's Smart Audio Platform or competitors. The next major privacy objection is typically "what if it gets hacked?!" Which, while impossible to address, ignores the smart elephant in your pocket. Which too has an always on speaker accessible to baseband as well as the primary OS.

klez 9y ago
> ignores the smart elephant in your pocket One can point out potential privacy/security flaws in one device while still recognizing the are other privacy/security flaws in other devices (smartphones, in this case). I've never seen privacy/security minded individuals not acknowledging the latter.
criddell 9y ago
I think the worry isn't that they are listening to everybody all the time. I think it's more about the potential for abuse by Amazon, their employees, or law enforcement. If the police approach Amazon with a court order saying they want to the microphone turned on in Someone1234's home, what do you think Amazon will do?
- ryanwaggoner 9y ago
  Yes, but the same question applies for phones, tablets, and computers.
  - scintill76 9y ago
    What company do the police get to tap my computer? That's not going to work well. Who do they get to tap my Amazon home assistant? Amazon!
    - Clubber 9y ago
      >What company do the police get to tap my computer? Comcast, TWC, etc. Record everything over the wire since the patriot act and store it. Search with a FISA warrant. They could pay a private company to infiltrate it.
acdha 9y ago
Don’t be quick to assume that people just don’t understand the technology – it could be that their concerns are based on understanding history. Apple doesn’t run an advertising and sales business and they’ve made privacy a major selling point. That gives many people reason to believe they won’t quietly change functionality in an update or start selling data from the cloud services backing these systems. You can see this happening in the mobile space where Apple has been proactive about privacy concerns and Google has generally waited for public outcry or impending regulations before cleaning up their app store.
innagadadavida 9y ago
To me, the biggest concern is taking my conversation and putting it up for sale on Amazon ad network. Already hate it when websites track me with ads about a search I did. Will be infinitely worse if now you get hoards of ads for something embarrassing you said and Alexa heard it.

klez 9y ago

> ignores the smart elephant in your pocket One can point out potential privacy/security flaws in one device while still recognizing the are other privacy/security flaws in other devices (smartphones, in this case). I've never seen privacy/security minded individuals not acknowledging the latter.

criddell 9y ago

I think the worry isn't that they are listening to everybody all the time. I think it's more about the potential for abuse by Amazon, their employees, or law enforcement. If the police approach Amazon with a court order saying they want to the microphone turned on in Someone1234's home, what do you think Amazon will do?

ryanwaggoner 9y ago
Yes, but the same question applies for phones, tablets, and computers.
- scintill76 9y ago
  What company do the police get to tap my computer? That's not going to work well. Who do they get to tap my Amazon home assistant? Amazon!
  - Clubber 9y ago
    >What company do the police get to tap my computer? Comcast, TWC, etc. Record everything over the wire since the patriot act and store it. Search with a FISA warrant. They could pay a private company to infiltrate it.

acdha 9y ago

Don’t be quick to assume that people just don’t understand the technology – it could be that their concerns are based on understanding history. Apple doesn’t run an advertising and sales business and they’ve made privacy a major selling point. That gives many people reason to believe they won’t quietly change functionality in an update or start selling data from the cloud services backing these systems. You can see this happening in the mobile space where Apple has been proactive about privacy concerns and Google has generally waited for public outcry or impending regulations before cleaning up their app store.

innagadadavida 9y ago

To me, the biggest concern is taking my conversation and putting it up for sale on Amazon ad network. Already hate it when websites track me with ads about a search I did. Will be infinitely worse if now you get hoards of ads for something embarrassing you said and Alexa heard it.