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My wife works in a woman's shelter and Alexa / smart home devices is a common way women in abusive relationships are harassed and monitored... Edit for clarity
by steve-benjamins 7y ago
My wife works in a woman's shelter and Alexa / smart home devices is a common way women in abusive relationships are harassed and monitored...
Edit for clarity: Even if a woman has a restraining order against the abuser, the abuser will turn on music in the middle of the night, mess with the lights, turn the thermostat down etc. If the woman still lives with the abuser, smart devices (not necessarily Alexa) are used to monitoring comings and goings.
One person often sets up the devices and the other person has no understanding of how to turn these things off. Even more often: the harassed woman doesn't even realize what's happening is due to the man controlling smart devices— the harassed is "gaslighted" and thinks they're going crazy ("why does the temperature keep PLUMMETING?").
- daenz 7y agoEDIT>> Totally misunderstood the parent post.
- detaro 7y agoWhy would they "surely" mean the opposite of what they said?
- jstarfish 7y agoNo, you can do a lot of griefing with the ability to remotely control locks, fixtures, appliances and thermostats.
- steve-benjamins 7y agoNo, I mean smart devices are used to harass women in entirely new ways. Men often are the ones who setup the devices. Even if they have a restraining order they will turn music on in the middle of the night, mess with the lights, turn the thermostat down etc. Before a restraining order smart devices are often used for monitoring.
- aiisjustanif 7y agoNever even thought about this, geez. Do we have any rough stats on how often this happens? Also, just another reason I don't use smart devices.
- tuesdayrain 7y agoYou don't use smart devices because of the possibility that your partner will use them to harass you?
- miranda_rights 7y agoThat seems like a deliberately obtuse response. It could just as easily be a family member, roommate, or some neighbor that offered to help you set your Alexa up. The fact that it can happen at all is the issue.
- beenBoutIT 7y agoPeople need to invest time into understanding the devices that they own, no one should own anything that they don't know how to use.
- adamson 7y agoIt'd be amazing if there were an open smart device protocol (maybe there is one?) that was widely implemented. There's no reason turning on the lights in your room or changing what Spotify is playing on your speakers needs to be tied to your Amazon/Google/whatever account.
- mey 7y agoAlexa also has the drop in function that turns it into an audio listening device