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Apple's is recognizing specifically "hey siri" at all times - it isn't otherwise listening. Perhaps you find the distinction uncompelling, but there you go! ht

Apple's is recognizing specifically "hey siri" at all times - it isn't otherwise listening. Perhaps you find the distinction uncompelling, but there you go! https://machinelearning.apple.com/2017/10/01/hey-siri.html https://machinelearning.apple.com/2017/10/01/hey-siri.html

jki275 8y ago
It can't hear "hey siri" if it's not listening at all times.
- wnkrshm 8y ago
  You can also do data analysis locally, reducing the information down to something you can believably argue does not contain the information of what is said (like spectral analysis etc.) and then periodically upload that. You can claim that your product is not 'listening' in the classic sense.
  - jki275 8y ago
    Agree with the first part (I'm not certain how they actually do it), but the latter does not follow. It's still listening, even if it's not actually sending the data elsewhere for processing.
- dwighttk 8y ago
  you can use siri without "hey siri" being active.
  - jki275 8y ago
    I'm aware.
mikestew 8y ago
Pardon me for being dense (and ignorant, no Echos in my house), but isn't the Echo doing the same thing? Just waiting for it's catch phrase? As for the distinction, doesn't really matter to me, I'm in the "no way in hell is Amazon getting one of those in my house" camp. :-)
- jhall1468 8y ago
  You'd be correct: they do the exact same thing. But people need to justify their opinions when they are inconsistent with reality, so here we are. Android and iPhones both have always on mics. But nobody is dropping their phone. I don't see a conflict if people admit the potential invasion of pirvacy is worth the utility of a phone, but not the utility of an Echo device. But apparently that alone isn't good enough.
  - stanmancan 8y ago
    The distinction for me is that Google is an advertising company, and Amazon a retailer; they both stand to make non-trivial amounts of money by listening, storing, and analyzing every little bit of audio they can from your devices. So far at least, Apple claims to be privacy focused and makes money hand over fist by selling essentially luxury goods. Aside from selling your data to some third party (which seems unnecessary for a trillion dollar company), there's not much Apple could do with it. TL;DR Personally, I have more trust in Apple not to "spy" because they seem to have nothing to gain from it. Amazon and Google have plenty to gain from spying.
    - Filligree 8y ago
      Your phone is only listening for 'Ok Google', though. It isn't streaming the audio; you can easily verify that.
      - stanmancan 8y ago
        I never said they were streaming audio. They can, however, pick up more audio than is required, and listen for things other than the commands being spoken. Just because someone says "OK Google, whats the weather?" doesn't mean there isn't a conversation going on in the background that they can pick up on. Google purchasing MasterCard purchase transactions so they can link to their profile of users is a great example of them having zero respect of your privacy.
        8y ago
toss1 8y ago
With Amazon Echo, if Drop In is enabled, any of a number of people can turn on the mike to listen anytime [1]. This has gone wrong when erroneous connections were made, and IMO, Amazon are overly aggressive about enabling this feature. [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202173800 https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

jki275 8y ago

It can't hear "hey siri" if it's not listening at all times.

wnkrshm 8y ago
You can also do data analysis locally, reducing the information down to something you can believably argue does not contain the information of what is said (like spectral analysis etc.) and then periodically upload that. You can claim that your product is not 'listening' in the classic sense.
- jki275 8y ago
  Agree with the first part (I'm not certain how they actually do it), but the latter does not follow. It's still listening, even if it's not actually sending the data elsewhere for processing.
dwighttk 8y ago
you can use siri without "hey siri" being active.
- jki275 8y ago
  I'm aware.

mikestew 8y ago

Pardon me for being dense (and ignorant, no Echos in my house), but isn't the Echo doing the same thing? Just waiting for it's catch phrase? As for the distinction, doesn't really matter to me, I'm in the "no way in hell is Amazon getting one of those in my house" camp. :-)

jhall1468 8y ago
You'd be correct: they do the exact same thing. But people need to justify their opinions when they are inconsistent with reality, so here we are. Android and iPhones both have always on mics. But nobody is dropping their phone. I don't see a conflict if people admit the potential invasion of pirvacy is worth the utility of a phone, but not the utility of an Echo device. But apparently that alone isn't good enough.
- stanmancan 8y ago
  The distinction for me is that Google is an advertising company, and Amazon a retailer; they both stand to make non-trivial amounts of money by listening, storing, and analyzing every little bit of audio they can from your devices. So far at least, Apple claims to be privacy focused and makes money hand over fist by selling essentially luxury goods. Aside from selling your data to some third party (which seems unnecessary for a trillion dollar company), there's not much Apple could do with it. TL;DR Personally, I have more trust in Apple not to "spy" because they seem to have nothing to gain from it. Amazon and Google have plenty to gain from spying.
  - Filligree 8y ago
    Your phone is only listening for 'Ok Google', though. It isn't streaming the audio; you can easily verify that.
    - stanmancan 8y ago
      I never said they were streaming audio. They can, however, pick up more audio than is required, and listen for things other than the commands being spoken. Just because someone says "OK Google, whats the weather?" doesn't mean there isn't a conversation going on in the background that they can pick up on. Google purchasing MasterCard purchase transactions so they can link to their profile of users is a great example of them having zero respect of your privacy.
      - 8y ago

toss1 8y ago

With Amazon Echo, if Drop In is enabled, any of a number of people can turn on the mike to listen anytime [1]. This has gone wrong when erroneous connections were made, and IMO, Amazon are overly aggressive about enabling this feature. [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202173800 https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...