• JackbyDev@programming.dev
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    5 months ago

    I literally have a smart phone on my person 24/7. I don’t see how a speaker in my home is any worse. Plus they’re not constantly recording.

    • lseif@sopuli.xyz
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      5 months ago

      they quite literally are recording constantly. how else can they detect the trigger phrase? they only difference is that they are supposed to delete these recordings after the phrase isnt heard. but who’s to say that one of these devices is really doing that? it could include these recordings in it’s next request to amazon’s headquarters.

      regardless of what your phone does, having 2 recording devices is worse than 1. especially if they are owned by 2 separate companies. but if u disagree, why dont u livestream your computer screen 24/7, since microsoft is already recording that anyway…whats the difference?

      every new internet-enabled microcomputer is another attack vector, and every less one is more peace of mind. there’s a reason most security-minded people dont live in the bush, every choice is a compromise, and i choose somewhere between being able living in society and having a recording device in every room.

      also, you should consider using a free and open source mobile os if youre not already…

      • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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        5 months ago

        they quite literally are recording constantly. how else can they detect the trigger phrase? they only difference is that they are supposed to delete these recordings after the phrase isnt heard.

        Imagine you look at every frame of a video. Are you capable of detecting if one of the frames of video has a bird in it without saving anything? Of course you are. That’s how Alexa works. Stop falsely claiming it does anything else without proof. I’m all for criticizing Amazon but do it for legitimate things. We don’t need to resort to fear mongering and lies to take them down. There’s plenty of valid shit to accuse them of.

        but who’s to say that one of these devices is really doing that? it could include these recordings in it’s next request to amazon’s headquarters.

        Because people analyze the network traffic.

        regardless of what your phone does, having 2 recording devices is worse than 1.

        This is just goofy at this point. I’m not trying to convince you personally to put an Alexa in your house. I’m just saying that it’s a miniscule marginal amount of extra privacy loss at worst. It shouldn’t surprise you people are interested.

        • lseif@sopuli.xyz
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          5 months ago

          Stop falsely claiming it does anything else without proof

          I’m claiming it could, and that there is an incentive. for the same reasons that people use open source software.

          There’s plenty of valid shit to accuse them of

          then do your part to accuse them of those things instead of defending them here.

          Because people analyze the network traffic.

          did you read my reply ? it could store the recordings and bundle them with an innocent request, encrypted even. unless you have physically looked inside the device and checked that it is incapable of doing this, you are simply trusting a company’s word.

          I’m not trying to convince you personally to put an Alexa in your house

          and…I’m not trying to convince you personally either. that statement is pointless. we are having a “discussion”. my opinion is that people should care more about these issues, especially when you see things like the original post.

          • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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            5 months ago

            There’s plenty of valid shit to accuse them of

            then do your part to accuse them of those things instead of defending them here.

            I don’t see how saying they’re a bad company worthy of criticism isn’t “doing my part to accuse them” lmao.

          • Hexarei@programming.dev
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            5 months ago

            it could store the recordings and bundle them with an innocent request, encrypted even. unless you have physically looked inside the device and checked that it is incapable of doing this, you are simply trusting a company’s word.

            Plenty of people have done just that; And discovered that no, Echo devices do not do that. Also audio recordings are big, so the folks who have done proper network analysis would probably have noticed such a thing.

            Echo devices have two computers in them: One that only listens for the wake word and activates the second computer. A second computer that does the actual relay and processing for the voice commands.

            Claiming they’re always recording is just unnecessary fearmongering