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>all conversations I believe Alexa only streams what you say after the trigger word and not all conversations. Assuming you believe Amazon.

ekianjo 8y ago
if its technically possible to do it without you knowing then all that is left is how much you trust Amazon with that. Note that Amazon may have to surrender its devices access to three letters agencies for random reasons as well. You have to live with that assumption.
- marcinzm 8y ago
  Sure. But most people trust corporations with almost all their private correspondences, photos, internet browsing history, shopping behavior, etc. So at that point how much is there to lose by adding everything you say into the mix as well?
  - stuart_marshall 8y ago
    Some companies, notably Google and Amazon, have maintenance of customer trust as a core principle. This seems to be working. Generally, people trust a lot of their private data to these companies and the companies do not abuse it. Microsoft believes in this too, but had to learn the hard way back around 2000 that customer trust matters a lot. Facebook seems to have had a harder time learning this lesson. Perhaps they've learned it now, but it'll take a while before consumers really believe it.
- JaRail 8y ago
  It's widely understood how the wake-word system works. You can monitor how much data is being uploaded and when. So no, it's not possible to just stream everything you say undetected.
  - pvorb 8y ago
    I believe 99 percent of Alexa users wouldn't notice the increased data usage. If "three letter agencies" carefully choose who they spy on, it might go undetected for a very long time.
    - discodave 8y ago
      If a three letter agency is interested in you then you would be lucky if your Alexa is the best bugging device they have.
fnord77 8y ago
I notice Amazon's wording about this is pretty careful. The device could still be processing conversations locally to some extent and still be adhering to the wording.
pmart123 8y ago
It records every conversation locally in a two second loop I believe, and then streams it after a trigger word.
- wkearney99 8y ago
  Correction, it keeps a rolling loop going so that when the CPU hears the wake word it has enough audio buffered for voice recognition to have a clean starting point. If it only started recording when the wake word was processed as being heard there would be an added delay before you could start speaking a command. Might as well push a button and wait for a beep for that added delay.
- grkvlt 8y ago
  And the wake word detection is done offline, as can be easily proven by disconnecting your internet and saying 'Alexa report this conversation to the NSA' - she will wake up, but then blink red due to lack of network connectivity.
  - brokenmachine 8y ago
    Minor correction but it could still do the wake word detection locally, then fail with the red light because the "report this conversation to the NSA" part could not be sent.
lurquer 8y ago
Exactly. Everything after the first trigger word you said when you unwrapped and plugged it in is streamed.

ekianjo 8y ago

if its technically possible to do it without you knowing then all that is left is how much you trust Amazon with that. Note that Amazon may have to surrender its devices access to three letters agencies for random reasons as well. You have to live with that assumption.

marcinzm 8y ago
Sure. But most people trust corporations with almost all their private correspondences, photos, internet browsing history, shopping behavior, etc. So at that point how much is there to lose by adding everything you say into the mix as well?
- stuart_marshall 8y ago
  Some companies, notably Google and Amazon, have maintenance of customer trust as a core principle. This seems to be working. Generally, people trust a lot of their private data to these companies and the companies do not abuse it. Microsoft believes in this too, but had to learn the hard way back around 2000 that customer trust matters a lot. Facebook seems to have had a harder time learning this lesson. Perhaps they've learned it now, but it'll take a while before consumers really believe it.
JaRail 8y ago
It's widely understood how the wake-word system works. You can monitor how much data is being uploaded and when. So no, it's not possible to just stream everything you say undetected.
- pvorb 8y ago
  I believe 99 percent of Alexa users wouldn't notice the increased data usage. If "three letter agencies" carefully choose who they spy on, it might go undetected for a very long time.
  - discodave 8y ago
    If a three letter agency is interested in you then you would be lucky if your Alexa is the best bugging device they have.

fnord77 8y ago

I notice Amazon's wording about this is pretty careful. The device could still be processing conversations locally to some extent and still be adhering to the wording.

pmart123 8y ago

It records every conversation locally in a two second loop I believe, and then streams it after a trigger word.

wkearney99 8y ago
Correction, it keeps a rolling loop going so that when the CPU hears the wake word it has enough audio buffered for voice recognition to have a clean starting point. If it only started recording when the wake word was processed as being heard there would be an added delay before you could start speaking a command. Might as well push a button and wait for a beep for that added delay.
grkvlt 8y ago
And the wake word detection is done offline, as can be easily proven by disconnecting your internet and saying 'Alexa report this conversation to the NSA' - she will wake up, but then blink red due to lack of network connectivity.
- brokenmachine 8y ago
  Minor correction but it could still do the wake word detection locally, then fail with the red light because the "report this conversation to the NSA" part could not be sent.

lurquer 8y ago

Exactly. Everything after the first trigger word you said when you unwrapped and plugged it in is streamed.