If you were unsure about Alexa, you were right

Smart speaker recordings reviewed by humans

Amazon Workers Are Listening to What You Tell Alexa

So we all knew, didnt we, please say you did, you cant think that these corporations are in it to make your life easier, its to steal, take without consent, as much of your personal life as they can, wonder if Mr Bozzo has sold some of that information to the highest bidder.

All three companies say voice recordings are occasionally reviewed to improve speech recognition

Some of the reviewers told Bloomberg that they shared amusing voice clips with one another in an internal chat room.

They also described hearing distressing clips such as a potential sexual assault. However, they were told by colleagues that it was not Amazon's job to intervene.

theres a suprise, not their responsibility, but they have a responsibility to listen on behalf of Amazon, and you did not even give them permission to steal your privacy or in this potential case, you got your privacy stolen and possibly assaulted in your own home, hey gotta trust those companys to self regulate after all

In a statement, Amazon said it took security and privacy seriously and only annotated "an extremely small sample of Alexa voice recordings".

With estimated sales of the Echo at 6.3 million, thats 1 or 2 poeple at most isnt it , i mean its not like they would invade the privacy of more than that would they

"This information helps us train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems, so Alexa can better understand your requests, and ensure the service works well for everyone," it said in a statement.

Ah so the paying customer (average price £50) is now beta testing it for you, great excuse to justify that invasion of privacy then, as the service will improve

According to Apple's security policy, voice recordings lack personally identifiable information and are linked to a random ID number, which is reset every time Siri is switched off. Any voice recordings kept after six months are stored without the random ID number.

So they must only keep it and listen to it once then destroy it, Noooooooo they then store it on another system of course for security up to 6months!!!

I mean Jeff Bozzo and all his riches can be trusted right, I bet the customer can opt out easily from this scheme, its my privacy after all right? RIGHT?

NOOOO, not in Jeffs world

Amazon's Alexa privacy settings do not let you opt out of voice recording or human review, but you can stop your recordings being used to "help develop new features". You can also listen to and delete previous voice recordings.

I love my tech but I have not purchased one of these devices but I have a dumb phone that is probably just as invasive, wanna make a quick ££$$, steal peoples privacy and charge them for the privilege

Good god!
People are literally putting a wire tap on their kitchen tables and are now surprised that someone was listening...

Well duh!

a reply to: Bluntone22

Its nice to know that people can have a laugh at your antics in your own home with their colleagues and you did not even let them in.



but its all done to improve the life of ladies like this, as their product cant understand a mild Scottish accent (not sure why there are even subtitles), heaven forbid they employed someone Scottish prior to release to iron out these problems.

But you signed the agreement.

Just like when you put an app on your phone. You usually are agreeing to let them have full control over your microphone, camera, GPS and your photo gallery.

a reply to: UpIsNowDown

My wife asked for one of these stupid things for chtistmas. Told her no problem and asked her where she was moving to so I could have it shipped because it sure as hell isn't going in my house. If I can't opt out and know I have opted out, I don't want the tech. It's one of the reasons I won't buy apple anything and root and firewall all my toys.

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: butcherguy

There is no agreement only JEFF!!!!

Amazon's Alexa privacy settings do not let you opt out of voice recording or human review, but you can stop your recordings being used to "help develop new features"

you can stop them being used, whatever that means in Jeffs world

originally posted by: butcherguy

But you signed the agreement.

Just like when you put an app on your phone. You usually are agreeing to let them have full control over your microphone, camera, GPS and your photo gallery.

That's precisely how people get turned into the Human CentiPad against their will.

originally posted by: UpIsNowDown
a reply to: butcherguy

There is no agreement only JEFF!!!!

Amazon's Alexa privacy settings do not let you opt out of voice recording or human review, but you can stop your recordings being used to "help develop new features"

you can stop them being used, whatever that means in Jeffs world

I'm not liking this Jeff character.

I had Alexa removed from our office environment. I would never have a Siri or an Alexa device in my bedroom. Siri is disabled on my phone.

I'm actually rooting for a good old fashioned "dark ages" (well dark ages lite version) with this tech stuff.

Be great if a nice backlash came about where the bulk of the people started "lashing out" at the tech overlords. Dump these "smart devices" latch onto any cell company that offers more consumer friendly safe options, kick over robots at walmart.

Do it now, or be enslaved forever.

a reply to: UpIsNowDown

Thank you for posting that clip- hilarious! I love the Scottish (and Irish) for their total integration of swear words into their speech. Also I love it when they call people "cow."

This subject is so saddening and maddening. People are so stupid! They either are stupid enough to believe what these companies tell them (first it was no one can hear your conversations, then it was well but they aren't recorded, now it's they are recorded and we listen to and store them), OR they are just so incredibly lazy- or something- that they don't care, and both groups refuse to think the whole thing through and consider the precedents being set and how incredibly troubling they are.

Seriously- what can a damn Alexa actually do for you? Is it really so much easier to have Alexa look up and play a song for you, that you'll give up the privacy in your own home? I can't let myself think about these stupid people too much without becoming apoplectic.

We are doomed, folks.

Imagine if a gov think tank tried to dream up a way to control all information, then decided to start a bunch of tech companies because they knew corporations didn't need to follow the Constitution.

Being the decision makers on not pushing anti-trust laws would let them grow to massive sizes.
They could even take the darpa lifelog program and call it Facebook Co., then build giant server farms everywhere with property tax exemptions and pretend it's just silly social media.

Hell, start with a few really cool military grade maps for free to get people hooked.

It would be like a giant techno trap.

It would be frightening if that ever happens.

Silicone Valley?

More like Spook Valley.

a reply to: Mandroid7

It's more likely that they waited for a bunch of tech startups to flesh themselves out and then went in and "cradled" the top of the heap upwards while infiltrating and weaponizing them.

Other than that, I think it's spot on.

The sad thing is these "brilliant" people where actually rolled over and used by darker and more intelligent forces within the government. It's easier that way, to convince an intelligent person they are "right" then to force them to change their mind.

Okay, someone needs to take the other side of this argument. How many times have you been recorded when walking into a store? What about the body scanners at the airport? You're under constant surveillance just about everywhere you go. Facial recognition isn't science fiction anymore. Someone could profile you and report on how many times you went to that liquor store in town.

I've got two echoes in the house. Most of the time there is dead silence since the TV is off most of the time. No kids at home and my wife and I practically communicate by osmosis. Alexa beeps when a package is on the way. Pretty useful so I don't have to check online. Oh, by the way, the web should be your biggest worry when it comes to spying on your life.

If you really want to be anonymous, go off grid and and never go anywhere in public.

originally posted by: LogicalGraphitti
Okay, someone needs to take the other side of this argument. How many times have you been recorded when walking into a store? What about the body scanners at the airport? You're under constant surveillance just about everywhere you go. Facial recognition isn't science fiction anymore. Someone could profile you and report on how many times you went to that liquor store in town.

I've got two echoes in the house. Most of the time there is dead silence since the TV is off most of the time. No kids at home and my wife and I practically communicate by osmosis. Alexa beeps when a package is on the way. Pretty useful so I don't have to check online. Oh, by the way, the web should be your biggest worry when it comes to spying on your life.

If you really want to be anonymous, go off grid and and never go anywhere in public.

You're right, everyone's data is gathered every second you are outside of your home. It's not right and not something to be happy about.

The line SHOULD BE at willingly bringing into your home(and paying for it no less). The sad reality is that, as you've pointed out, most people won't even draw that line.

I'm sure in a few years when amazon releases the "Amazon Fire Head Implant"(surely on sale for such a great deal you'll get one for the whole family), some will rush to get such a wonderful product.

What's the right thing to do?

Reject the self inflicted invasion into the home and seek out areas(non metropolis) areas that overtly gather mass amounts of data, dump the social media and large corporate entities that gather the data and sell it willingly to anyone with money. Or just jump on board and let every ounce of your life be monitored, cataloged and sold to anyone with the cash.

Personally, I don't even venture into large cities. Not just for the mass amounts of data logging like you spoke of(traffic camera's, large corporate "security" systems that offload their data to ominous sources, etc). But also because large population densities breed crime, ignorance and the very worst of humanity.

a reply to: UpIsNowDown

Excellent

Glad to know all those products with microphones I tore out or severed the connections to wasn't in vain

Never would have any product by Amazon or Google or any other tech monopoly in my home though

originally posted by: LogicalGraphitti
Okay, someone needs to take the other side of this argument. How many times have you been recorded when walking into a store? What about the body scanners at the airport? You're under constant surveillance just about everywhere you go. Facial recognition isn't science fiction anymore. Someone could profile you and report on how many times you went to that liquor store in town.

I've got two echoes in the house. Most of the time there is dead silence since the TV is off most of the time. No kids at home and my wife and I practically communicate by osmosis. Alexa beeps when a package is on the way. Pretty useful so I don't have to check online. Oh, by the way, the web should be your biggest worry when it comes to spying on your life.

If you really want to be anonymous, go off grid and and never go anywhere in public.

I agree completely. I have 4 Echos and couldn’t care less what it records. I love having them and rely on them daily. This technology isn’t going away. I think it will just take some time for people to get over their fears.

a reply to: oriondc

originally posted by: UpIsNowDown
a reply to: butcherguy

There is no agreement only JEFF!!!!

Look at that dudes eyes, Mk Ultra??

(Being ATS, I assumed this comment would be OK, lol)

...But seriously,.... 🤔

Alexa simply put. Not only are they surveilling the people, they are getting the people to pay for having it done to them. Government privatization of their surveillance.