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Years ago after getting one I was messing around in settings on Amazon's Alexa website and noticed a log of commands/messages sent to Alexa. I reviewed them and

Years ago after getting one I was messing around in settings on Amazon's Alexa website and noticed a log of commands/messages sent to Alexa. I reviewed them and was horrified to see "why does daddy always beat me". Best to let your daughter win at Uno in this age of always-on connectivity. Or just unplug it, which is what I did.

stronglikedan 2y ago
[flagged]
- mitthrowaway2 2y ago
  Any other posts you can link to? I searched but couldn't find anything.
- cheschire 2y ago
  It sounds like you’re subtly implying that GP was posting a copypasta?
  - 240ccccc5205 2y ago
    I understood it to mean that dads are just really great at Uno
- refulgentis 2y ago
  Google: No results found for "why does daddy always beat me" alexa. I was lucky enough to work on a couple core parts of Google Assistant, in audio, and UI. I viscerally understand what it feels like to hear what comes across as obsessive negativity. It's important to avoid classifying inputs, especially in ways that dismiss reasonable concerns, much less lying about having seen it before.
- nevertoolate 2y ago
  funny how?
  - giancarlostoro 2y ago
    funny like a clown?
Aurornis 2y ago
There's some important nuance here: All commands (after trigger/wake word) were sent to the cloud in the past anyway. The option to do some on-device processing came on later devices and, as I understand it, wasn't even enabled by default. Furthermore, on-device processing would still send the parsed commands to the cloud. The headline is vague, but it's misleading a lot of people into thinking that only now Amazon will start sending commands to the cloud. It's actually always been that way. I suspect the number of people who enabled on-device processing was very, very small.
- luma 2y ago
  I'm shocked that not one single article I've found mentioned this incredibly obvious fact. This has ALWAYS been the case and only a few select models ever offered the option to turn it off. This change puts all devices on equal footing and behavior with the launch device. I don't love Amazon, but I love ginned up outrage over tech the author never bothered to understand even less.
  - wilg 2y ago
    Online news articles are not really a workable medium for real journalism or reporting
  - jasonfarnon 2y ago
    "I don't love Amazon, but I love ginned up outrage over tech the author never bothered to understand even less." And 99% of Echo owners disagree with this. No one cares if a reporter mixed up "amazon is starting to spy on you tomorrow" vs "amazon has been spying on you since the first echo was launched". Only amazon would make an argument like "yeah but we've been doing this for years now and no one made a big deal about it..."
    - jvanderbot 2y ago
      Right. But you have to admit this sounds a bit like labelling Cereal "arsenic free". Really helpful to know but the sudden announcement hides that it's always been that way and implies others aren't. In truth this is probably how they all work and always have, but such a headline wouldn't ding Amazon sales.
thr0waway001 2y ago
[flagged]
Twirrim 2y ago
I knew someone that used to work on the Alexa team on the language side of things. She had an emotionally terrible few weeks at one stage, because she and her team had to brainstorm (working in conjunction with experts) on just about every possible way users might ask questions that indicate they're being abused, so that they could provide suitable responses. Glad to have worked on it, but it was heart wrenching in many regards.

stronglikedan 2y ago

[flagged]

mitthrowaway2 2y ago
Any other posts you can link to? I searched but couldn't find anything.
cheschire 2y ago
It sounds like you’re subtly implying that GP was posting a copypasta?
- 240ccccc5205 2y ago
  I understood it to mean that dads are just really great at Uno
refulgentis 2y ago
Google: No results found for "why does daddy always beat me" alexa. I was lucky enough to work on a couple core parts of Google Assistant, in audio, and UI. I viscerally understand what it feels like to hear what comes across as obsessive negativity. It's important to avoid classifying inputs, especially in ways that dismiss reasonable concerns, much less lying about having seen it before.
nevertoolate 2y ago
funny how?
- giancarlostoro 2y ago
  funny like a clown?

Aurornis 2y ago

There's some important nuance here: All commands (after trigger/wake word) were sent to the cloud in the past anyway. The option to do some on-device processing came on later devices and, as I understand it, wasn't even enabled by default. Furthermore, on-device processing would still send the parsed commands to the cloud. The headline is vague, but it's misleading a lot of people into thinking that only now Amazon will start sending commands to the cloud. It's actually always been that way. I suspect the number of people who enabled on-device processing was very, very small.

luma 2y ago
I'm shocked that not one single article I've found mentioned this incredibly obvious fact. This has ALWAYS been the case and only a few select models ever offered the option to turn it off. This change puts all devices on equal footing and behavior with the launch device. I don't love Amazon, but I love ginned up outrage over tech the author never bothered to understand even less.
- wilg 2y ago
  Online news articles are not really a workable medium for real journalism or reporting
- jasonfarnon 2y ago
  "I don't love Amazon, but I love ginned up outrage over tech the author never bothered to understand even less." And 99% of Echo owners disagree with this. No one cares if a reporter mixed up "amazon is starting to spy on you tomorrow" vs "amazon has been spying on you since the first echo was launched". Only amazon would make an argument like "yeah but we've been doing this for years now and no one made a big deal about it..."
  - jvanderbot 2y ago
    Right. But you have to admit this sounds a bit like labelling Cereal "arsenic free". Really helpful to know but the sudden announcement hides that it's always been that way and implies others aren't. In truth this is probably how they all work and always have, but such a headline wouldn't ding Amazon sales.

thr0waway001 2y ago

[flagged]

Twirrim 2y ago

I knew someone that used to work on the Alexa team on the language side of things. She had an emotionally terrible few weeks at one stage, because she and her team had to brainstorm (working in conjunction with experts) on just about every possible way users might ask questions that indicate they're being abused, so that they could provide suitable responses. Glad to have worked on it, but it was heart wrenching in many regards.