Police are going after Alexa voice recordings of a murder

[MattP]

Anybody else creeped out that the echo records ALL audio even if not activated and stores it on amazons servers https://www.buzzfeed.com/blakemontgomery/cops-in-arkansas-are-trying-to-solve-a-murder-with-amazon-ec?utm_term=.vyGvWpBMVw#.rqMeG4MLla

[canetoad]

1. Assuming that these devices

Are purchased and used by sentient beings excercising autonomy and discernment, what really 'creeps me out' is how easily people turn over their privacy to enormous tech corporations.

[herding cats]

2. The article doesn't say Amazon saves all audio, it actually says the opposite.

It goes on to say:

The Echo speaker and its embedded virtual assistant Alexa work by continuously recording ambient conversation, even when a human isn’t directly interacting the speaker. That’s how it’s able to activate at the call of “Alexa.” While Amazon does not save records of ambient conversations, anything you say to the speaker after activating it is stored on Amazon’s servers.

Bentonville Police said that music had been streaming through the night of the murder, according to The Information, which means the speaker might have been inadvertently activated. It’s these recordings that police are after.

So, you have to say "Alexa" (a command that it understands to activate it) for it to begin storing that commands info. Which is used to make the commands people try to use more intuitive. I'm willing to bet the warrant will come up with nothing stored again until the key Alexa is said again.

These devices require an activation key to begin functioning, you can't even get them to change a song without saying the required keyword to get it to "listen" to you again.

[Squinch]

5. Later it says there was ambient music playing the night of the murder and that may have kept

the device recording.

Scary thing.

[Maru Kitteh]

3. "Alexa, record my dying screams . . ."

Just NO.

Too much like James Cromwell in I, Robot.

[eShirl]

4. yep.

When the very first ad came out for it from Amazon, I thought it was a short dystopian satire.

ooo, I think I found it...