4 ms·

The article doesn't explain much, but it sounds to me like the device mistakenly interpreted a voice command to record and send a message.

Fwirt 8y ago
The article makes it sound like the engineers didn't know what was going on, so it could be an actual bug, unless support was just trying to placate her.
- macintux 8y ago
  The fact that the device didn't audibly confirm the message appears to be a bug, from my reading.
untog 8y ago
Sure, but isn't that still terrifying? It brings me back to something I wonder about with these voice activated devices: you have no idea what it can do. Voice UIs are so utterly opaque, and Amazon(/Google/whoever) pushes new software updates without informing you. So it'll add new commands all the time, and you won't know about it until you accidentally trigger it, making it do... whatever. But either way, they should surely be confirming this before send, the same way Siri does when I ask it to send a text.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- newman8r 8y ago
  yeah it's still off-putting. I haven't used a smartphone in years. Looking back on the days when I did use a smartphone, there was always this tiny fear in the back of my head that maybe I'd pocket-dialed someone and they'd be able to hear my conversation. It actually had a subtle chilling effect. The Hawthorne effect (which discusses how people react to being observed) seems to be especially relevant nowadays as there's a real possibility that we're being recorded at any time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect It's actually a big theme in 1984 where the mere possibility that you were being listened to via telescreen was enough to keep you in line and influence your behavior.
xyzzy_plugh 8y ago
I could be mistaken but I believe there are confirmations required? Could it be that the volume was set very low and they inadvertently triggered their way through the entire dialog? I've accidentally set alarms from a few rooms away but this is a whole other level.
- simion314 8y ago
  >I've accidentally set alarms from a few rooms away but this is a whole other level This seems dangerous, some smart house could open the doors or stop the heat or stream your entire live on the internet.
maherbeg 8y ago
POST requests should require secondary verification from the user. GET requests are probably fine to execute. Some POST requests may only need to let you know that they did it, such as adding a calendar reminder on to YOUR calendar. It should ask if it wants to send a calendar invite to someone else's calendar.

Fwirt 8y ago

The article makes it sound like the engineers didn't know what was going on, so it could be an actual bug, unless support was just trying to placate her.

macintux 8y ago
The fact that the device didn't audibly confirm the message appears to be a bug, from my reading.

untog 8y ago

Sure, but isn't that still terrifying? It brings me back to something I wonder about with these voice activated devices: you have no idea what it can do. Voice UIs are so utterly opaque, and Amazon(/Google/whoever) pushes new software updates without informing you. So it'll add new commands all the time, and you won't know about it until you accidentally trigger it, making it do... whatever. But either way, they should surely be confirming this before send, the same way Siri does when I ask it to send a text.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
newman8r 8y ago
yeah it's still off-putting. I haven't used a smartphone in years. Looking back on the days when I did use a smartphone, there was always this tiny fear in the back of my head that maybe I'd pocket-dialed someone and they'd be able to hear my conversation. It actually had a subtle chilling effect. The Hawthorne effect (which discusses how people react to being observed) seems to be especially relevant nowadays as there's a real possibility that we're being recorded at any time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect It's actually a big theme in 1984 where the mere possibility that you were being listened to via telescreen was enough to keep you in line and influence your behavior.

xyzzy_plugh 8y ago

I could be mistaken but I believe there are confirmations required? Could it be that the volume was set very low and they inadvertently triggered their way through the entire dialog? I've accidentally set alarms from a few rooms away but this is a whole other level.

simion314 8y ago
>I've accidentally set alarms from a few rooms away but this is a whole other level This seems dangerous, some smart house could open the doors or stop the heat or stream your entire live on the internet.

maherbeg 8y ago

POST requests should require secondary verification from the user. GET requests are probably fine to execute. Some POST requests may only need to let you know that they did it, such as adding a calendar reminder on to YOUR calendar. It should ask if it wants to send a calendar invite to someone else's calendar.