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I’m one of those “idiots.” Can you explain how it’s any worse than carrying a cell phone?

• fouric 8y ago
  Android has per-app microphone permissions that you can disable, if you want. At least in theory, Google apps honor these permissions, and on LineageOS, you can verify that this is the case - while with the Alexa, not only is there no way to audit any of the code running on the device, but it's explicitly marketed as being always listening.
  • mikeash 8y ago
    The baseband is a black box and has direct access to the microphone.
    • fouric 8y ago
      Oh, this is true - although the likelihood and ease of it being exploited as a listening device are much lower than that of a device explicitly designed to do so. Edit: Not to mention that the entire Alexa is a black box, too. Second Edit: Not trying to claim that you're an idiot, just provide some perspective.
      • mikeash 8y ago
        I suspect that the capability is already there, to be turned on at the request of law enforcement.