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See, you scare me. Should private speech in the home have consequences? Speech that not only did you not mean to make public, but you didn't even realize could

See, you scare me. Should private speech in the home have consequences? Speech that not only did you not mean to make public, but you didn't even realize could possibly become public? That's the road to hell for our society.

matai_kolila 4y ago
What even is a “private speech”? Are you worried Alexa is listening to you as you rant to yourself?
- olyjohn 4y ago
  It's not a private speech, smartass. It's private speech. As in speech that is private. As in, when you're in the privacy of your own home, and you're expressing yourself to yourself or others, that would be private speech. Speech that is not directed to a public audience. Even when you talk to yourself in your mind, that is your own private speech.
  - matai_kolila 4y ago
    Nope, once you involve others, you involve consequences, as it is now their free speech (and free association) that often generates those consequences.
- throwaway23597 4y ago
  > Are you worried Alexa is listening to you as you rant to yourself? Well, I mean, quite literally, it is. It's always listening to you, and that's how it knows when you say "Alexa". And IIUC all these audio recordings are sent right to AWS and stored indefinitely.
  - greesil 4y ago
    "Alexa, would you like to hear my racist tirade?
    - throwaway23597 4y ago
      Haha, I can't imagine that this happens often. But that being said, there are documented instances of Alexa picking up sensitive conversations on accident, for example in this WaPo article where it was observed picking up sensitive information: "There were even sensitive conversations that somehow triggered Alexa’s “wake word” to start recording, including my family discussing medication and a friend conducting a business deal." https://archive.ph/c7G1c https://archive.ph/c7G1c
djleni 4y ago
That’s not a free speech or “cancelling” problem. That’s a privacy problem.
sangnoir 4y ago
> Should private speech in the home have consequences? Speech that not only did you not mean to make public, but you didn't even realize could possibly become public? What do you think about the (former) NFL team owner whose voicemail containing racial slurs was leaked. It was not supposed to become public: should he not have faced any consequences for it on that basis? IIRC, he was forced to sell his franchise by the other teams.
- jaywalk 4y ago
  You're talking about the former owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling. Not an NFL owner.
  - sangnoir 4y ago
    Thank you, I was recalling off the top of my head and mixed up the leagues.
    - Tommah 4y ago
      Something similar happened with the Carolina Panthers in the NFL. The owner sold the team because of allegations that he was saying racist and sexist things, although there was no recording of him AFAIK. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/18/facing-misconduct-investigation-panthers-owner-selling-team.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/18/facing-misconduct-investigat...
- throwaway23597 4y ago
  It's an interesting case, for sure. I'm not familiar with the specifics, but I think a key variable is how exactly the conversation was leaked. If the receiver of the voicemail leaked it, that's a consequence that the owner should have been prepared for - that sort of thing happens all the time, like with Alec Baldwin. If it was the phone company that leaked it, then I think that is a different story. Abusing data from a platform advertised as private, perpetrated by someone who does not even know the people in question, is wrong. Nobody is prepared for the consequences of petabytes of conversation data to be analyzed by random people they don't even know. This is the situation I'm more concerned about.

matai_kolila 4y ago

What even is a “private speech”? Are you worried Alexa is listening to you as you rant to yourself?

olyjohn 4y ago
It's not a private speech, smartass. It's private speech. As in speech that is private. As in, when you're in the privacy of your own home, and you're expressing yourself to yourself or others, that would be private speech. Speech that is not directed to a public audience. Even when you talk to yourself in your mind, that is your own private speech.
- matai_kolila 4y ago
  Nope, once you involve others, you involve consequences, as it is now their free speech (and free association) that often generates those consequences.
throwaway23597 4y ago
> Are you worried Alexa is listening to you as you rant to yourself? Well, I mean, quite literally, it is. It's always listening to you, and that's how it knows when you say "Alexa". And IIUC all these audio recordings are sent right to AWS and stored indefinitely.
- greesil 4y ago
  "Alexa, would you like to hear my racist tirade?
  - throwaway23597 4y ago
    Haha, I can't imagine that this happens often. But that being said, there are documented instances of Alexa picking up sensitive conversations on accident, for example in this WaPo article where it was observed picking up sensitive information: "There were even sensitive conversations that somehow triggered Alexa’s “wake word” to start recording, including my family discussing medication and a friend conducting a business deal." https://archive.ph/c7G1c https://archive.ph/c7G1c

djleni 4y ago

That’s not a free speech or “cancelling” problem. That’s a privacy problem.

sangnoir 4y ago

> Should private speech in the home have consequences? Speech that not only did you not mean to make public, but you didn't even realize could possibly become public? What do you think about the (former) NFL team owner whose voicemail containing racial slurs was leaked. It was not supposed to become public: should he not have faced any consequences for it on that basis? IIRC, he was forced to sell his franchise by the other teams.

jaywalk 4y ago
You're talking about the former owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling. Not an NFL owner.
- sangnoir 4y ago
  Thank you, I was recalling off the top of my head and mixed up the leagues.
  - Tommah 4y ago
    Something similar happened with the Carolina Panthers in the NFL. The owner sold the team because of allegations that he was saying racist and sexist things, although there was no recording of him AFAIK. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/18/facing-misconduct-investigation-panthers-owner-selling-team.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/18/facing-misconduct-investigat...
throwaway23597 4y ago
It's an interesting case, for sure. I'm not familiar with the specifics, but I think a key variable is how exactly the conversation was leaked. If the receiver of the voicemail leaked it, that's a consequence that the owner should have been prepared for - that sort of thing happens all the time, like with Alec Baldwin. If it was the phone company that leaked it, then I think that is a different story. Abusing data from a platform advertised as private, perpetrated by someone who does not even know the people in question, is wrong. Nobody is prepared for the consequences of petabytes of conversation data to be analyzed by random people they don't even know. This is the situation I'm more concerned about.