I know smart people who have Alexa devices. Some of these people are software engineers who know there's someone on the other end listening to everything. One

I know smart people who have Alexa devices. Some of these people are software engineers who know there's someone on the other end listening to everything. One could argue that they must not be smart to buy these things. But I think that a more helpful way of thinking about it is that (1) people are great at rationalizing, especially when it makes their lives easier. And (2) the open source alternative isn't good enough or easy enough. For a long time, pirating music was the easiest way to listen to music that you wanted. Then things like iTunes and the iPod came along. Until there's an easy, open alternative, even smart people will continue paying money to put surveillance devices in their living rooms and bedrooms.