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Every time I visit a friend or relative who's all excited about their new voice assistant gadget, I make sure to do my best to demonstrate the potential problem

Every time I visit a friend or relative who's all excited about their new voice assistant gadget, I make sure to do my best to demonstrate the potential problems with the technology. "Hey Siri, who around here can sell me a few kilos of cocaine?" "Hey Alexa, add a thousand feet of rope, a half-dozen ballgags, a box of latex gloves, and a few shovels to my shopping basket." "Hey Google, give me the addresses of every ammonium nitrate seller, gun store, cargo van rental company, and elected official in a hundred-mile radius."

RugnirViking 7y ago
Wheras presumably amazon or pure internet search history does not provide exactly the same function? I mean yeah, audio does provide a new attack vector, but then pretty much every new technology does.
- kermitismyhero 7y ago
  There is a difference between deliberately typing those sorts of queries into a search field on a website, and a remotely-administered audio bug capturing every random bit of conversation within earshot.
  - RugnirViking 7y ago
    a website quite literally is a remotely administered user input gatherer. I understand the concern about open microphones, but we've had this conversation about everything from laptop microphones to smart TVs before. I don't see how something like a new device changes the equation much compared to those things.
    - kermitismyhero 7y ago
      You and I and many others on internet forums may have had that conversation, but most non-geeks in my social circles haven't. Deliberately fucking with their voice assistants is a great way to quickly get them thinking hard about the issue with a minimum of conversation. It's past time to appeal to logic. It's now time to go straight for the emotional jugular by inducing some panic.
theandrewbailey 7y ago
... followed up by "And now that search is tied to you! Have fun in prison!"
foxyv 7y ago
This could be a source of plausible deniability. "I didn't search for that. My friend said it as a joke!"

RugnirViking 7y ago

Wheras presumably amazon or pure internet search history does not provide exactly the same function? I mean yeah, audio does provide a new attack vector, but then pretty much every new technology does.

kermitismyhero 7y ago
There is a difference between deliberately typing those sorts of queries into a search field on a website, and a remotely-administered audio bug capturing every random bit of conversation within earshot.
- RugnirViking 7y ago
  a website quite literally is a remotely administered user input gatherer. I understand the concern about open microphones, but we've had this conversation about everything from laptop microphones to smart TVs before. I don't see how something like a new device changes the equation much compared to those things.
  - kermitismyhero 7y ago
    You and I and many others on internet forums may have had that conversation, but most non-geeks in my social circles haven't. Deliberately fucking with their voice assistants is a great way to quickly get them thinking hard about the issue with a minimum of conversation. It's past time to appeal to logic. It's now time to go straight for the emotional jugular by inducing some panic.

theandrewbailey 7y ago

... followed up by "And now that search is tied to you! Have fun in prison!"

foxyv 7y ago

This could be a source of plausible deniability. "I didn't search for that. My friend said it as a joke!"