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The baseband of your phone is basically an entire closed OS that runs in parallel with the OS that interact with and has complete control over all the hardware.

The baseband of your phone is basically an entire closed OS that runs in parallel with the OS that interact with and has complete control over all the hardware. This OS has it's own file system, programs, network access, everything. The Amazon echo isn't even that mysterious; it has low-power hardware to listen for the wake word and doesn't even power up the main CPU until that point. And you can always monitor the network traffic. The fears are massively overblown for home assistants. Mobile phones, by comparison, track your position in real time everywhere you are and send that information to paying 3rd parties all the time.

fucking_tragedy 8y ago
> And you can always monitor the network traffic. This is meaningless if the connection is encrypted. The device can wait to send data that it's collected without telling you along with data you expect it to send to Amazon, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
- wvenable 8y ago
  You'd be able to tell if some traffic is being sent. If my Echo is spying on me day and in out then I'd expect a pretty constant stream of traffic from it. If the Echo was ever caught intentionally spying (either through analysis or someone leaking that information) that would be the end of that product line forever.
  - fucking_tragedy 8y ago
    In my OP, I laid out an example in which an Echo could spy on you and waits to send data along with legitimate and expected network communications. > If the Echo was ever caught intentionally spying (either through analysis or someone leaking that information) that would be the end of that product line forever. Truthfully, I don't think many people would care.
    - wvenable 8y ago
      So people who do care would care and people who don't care already don't care. But trying to appeal to people who would care without any evidence is really pointless.
- epmaybe 8y ago
  What if Amazon were caught doing that, though?
  - fucking_tragedy 8y ago
    Given how privacy scandals have played out in the past, probably nothing of much consequence relative to the size of a company like Amazon.

fucking_tragedy 8y ago

> And you can always monitor the network traffic. This is meaningless if the connection is encrypted. The device can wait to send data that it's collected without telling you along with data you expect it to send to Amazon, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

wvenable 8y ago
You'd be able to tell if some traffic is being sent. If my Echo is spying on me day and in out then I'd expect a pretty constant stream of traffic from it. If the Echo was ever caught intentionally spying (either through analysis or someone leaking that information) that would be the end of that product line forever.
- fucking_tragedy 8y ago
  In my OP, I laid out an example in which an Echo could spy on you and waits to send data along with legitimate and expected network communications. > If the Echo was ever caught intentionally spying (either through analysis or someone leaking that information) that would be the end of that product line forever. Truthfully, I don't think many people would care.
  - wvenable 8y ago
    So people who do care would care and people who don't care already don't care. But trying to appeal to people who would care without any evidence is really pointless.
epmaybe 8y ago
What if Amazon were caught doing that, though?
- fucking_tragedy 8y ago
  Given how privacy scandals have played out in the past, probably nothing of much consequence relative to the size of a company like Amazon.