4 ms·

I have both Home and Alexa in my house. If I give Google the full benefit of the doubt and believe that they only record when I say 'Hey/OK Google', what about

I have both Home and Alexa in my house. If I give Google the full benefit of the doubt and believe that they only record when I say 'Hey/OK Google', what about Alexa? Does it send the recording to its server all the time or only transfer them when I invoke its service?

ColanR 7y ago
Amazon claims to only send speech data home when you invoke it with a 'hey alexa'. Whether they're sending home just your query, or everything the echo has heard since the last invocation, they are very careful not to say.
jedberg 7y ago
In both cases they only send what they heard after you used the wake word.
- zaphod4prez 7y ago
  Can you provide a reference for where Amazon &/or google say that, specifically? Bc another comment mentinos that they sort weasel around that claim and dont actually clearly state it. From my own perspective (and certainly dont mean this in a way that's dismissive towards you/your comment), given that those companies lie constantly, I'm not sure why I would trust their own PR about their products as a reliable source of information.
  - jedberg 7y ago
    > given that those companies lie constantly, I'm not sure why I would trust their own PR The only reference that would be credible would be something from the company, so if you don't believe them, then it wouldn't really matter, would it?
  - Someone1234 7y ago
    > Can you provide a reference for where Amazon &/or google say that, specifically? This very article. But since you said you don't believe them ("those companies lie constantly") why would referencing them help here? Either you believe them, and it is settled, or you don't and it is worthless. Hook up wireshark, you can quite clearly see when Google Mini or an Echo are sending an audio stream since it is a substantial packet-load relative to normal "keep-alive" comms. The only exceptions to that, from what I've seen, are automatic software updates (but traffic is moving down, rather than up). You could also look at the device teardowns, for example this article has a good overview of the underlying workings (inc. Wake Word detection): https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/2a32d792-d471-4136-8262-79962a2b4d72/cpu-memory-and-storage-for-alexa-built-in-devices https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/2a32d792-d471-...
- hunter2_ 7y ago
  I would hope that it's more like "after and including the wake word" so that they are capturing the audio needed to better train their algorithms on false wakes. I would much rather they analyze "a stray noodle on the floor" and eventually figure out that it shouldn't have woken, than analyze "on the floor" by itself and not be learning about the nuances of noodles. A hobby of mine is seeing how far away from "Hey Google" I can stray. The accessibility feature to beep on wake helps with this.
- freehunter 7y ago
  I don't understand how this is a controversial claim that people refute when it's so easy to test with something like Wireshark. If someone is paranoid enough spread FUD on the Internet, they should be paranoid enough to actually check with freely available tools.
  - jedberg 7y ago
    The common retort is "they record everything and then upload it all when you use the wake word". The people who say that clearly don't understand audio file sizes (unless Amazon has invented a new, secret, super compressed audio format).
    - andrerm 7y ago
      If Google don't clearly states what it collect, people must assume its everything
      - freehunter 7y ago
        When it's within your power to verify but you don't take the time to do so, you lose the authority to go online and claim your conspiracy theory has any merit at all.
        craftinator 7y ago
        No. You don't lose authority, you lose credibility. Unfortunately, conspiracy theorists tend to believe and repeat information that sparks an emotional reaction in them or agrees with their paranoid worldview, regardless of the credibility of that information. However, because of Google's track record with user data, paranoid assumptions of them tend to be correct.
        andrerm 7y ago
        You can make fun of people who don't read tiny little words hidden in a contract. But you also can say tiny words are dark patterns.
  - 7y ago

ColanR 7y ago

Amazon claims to only send speech data home when you invoke it with a 'hey alexa'. Whether they're sending home just your query, or everything the echo has heard since the last invocation, they are very careful not to say.

jedberg 7y ago

In both cases they only send what they heard after you used the wake word.

zaphod4prez 7y ago
Can you provide a reference for where Amazon &/or google say that, specifically? Bc another comment mentinos that they sort weasel around that claim and dont actually clearly state it. From my own perspective (and certainly dont mean this in a way that's dismissive towards you/your comment), given that those companies lie constantly, I'm not sure why I would trust their own PR about their products as a reliable source of information.
- jedberg 7y ago
  > given that those companies lie constantly, I'm not sure why I would trust their own PR The only reference that would be credible would be something from the company, so if you don't believe them, then it wouldn't really matter, would it?
- Someone1234 7y ago
  > Can you provide a reference for where Amazon &/or google say that, specifically? This very article. But since you said you don't believe them ("those companies lie constantly") why would referencing them help here? Either you believe them, and it is settled, or you don't and it is worthless. Hook up wireshark, you can quite clearly see when Google Mini or an Echo are sending an audio stream since it is a substantial packet-load relative to normal "keep-alive" comms. The only exceptions to that, from what I've seen, are automatic software updates (but traffic is moving down, rather than up). You could also look at the device teardowns, for example this article has a good overview of the underlying workings (inc. Wake Word detection): https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/2a32d792-d471-4136-8262-79962a2b4d72/cpu-memory-and-storage-for-alexa-built-in-devices https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/2a32d792-d471-...
hunter2_ 7y ago
I would hope that it's more like "after and including the wake word" so that they are capturing the audio needed to better train their algorithms on false wakes. I would much rather they analyze "a stray noodle on the floor" and eventually figure out that it shouldn't have woken, than analyze "on the floor" by itself and not be learning about the nuances of noodles. A hobby of mine is seeing how far away from "Hey Google" I can stray. The accessibility feature to beep on wake helps with this.
freehunter 7y ago
I don't understand how this is a controversial claim that people refute when it's so easy to test with something like Wireshark. If someone is paranoid enough spread FUD on the Internet, they should be paranoid enough to actually check with freely available tools.
- jedberg 7y ago
  The common retort is "they record everything and then upload it all when you use the wake word". The people who say that clearly don't understand audio file sizes (unless Amazon has invented a new, secret, super compressed audio format).
  - andrerm 7y ago
    If Google don't clearly states what it collect, people must assume its everything
    - freehunter 7y ago
      When it's within your power to verify but you don't take the time to do so, you lose the authority to go online and claim your conspiracy theory has any merit at all.
      - craftinator 7y ago
        No. You don't lose authority, you lose credibility. Unfortunately, conspiracy theorists tend to believe and repeat information that sparks an emotional reaction in them or agrees with their paranoid worldview, regardless of the credibility of that information. However, because of Google's track record with user data, paranoid assumptions of them tend to be correct.
      - andrerm 7y ago
        You can make fun of people who don't read tiny little words hidden in a contract. But you also can say tiny words are dark patterns.
- 7y ago