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Amazon's Alexa Recorded a Woman's Private Conversation and Sent it to a Contact
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This is a crazy situation, but with so many devices like this being used so often, is it possible just through sheer chance, that she said something that sounded somewhat similar to the command to initiate a voice message, and something that sounded like "Yes", even if she didn't hear a confirmation? That's a lot of "ifs".
Stranger things have happened. Creepy though.
Stranger things have happened. Creepy though.
Wouldn't that type of thinking apply to any such device, HomePod included?Just another reason why I got rid of my Google Home devices.
Though, I sure hope my Apple HomePod doesn't ever do something like this!
Amazon "takes privacy very seriously”, and then sends that privacy to whomever they feel like…
So, is this really a case of some sort of "surveillance" going bad in way, or more along the lines of unintentional use of something like the messaging feature (whether or the part of the customer, or due to some bad design and/or coding on Amazon's part)?
Man, sometimes staying analog is a blessing.
Its not like this happens on a daily basis. They are useful, at least, I think they are - of course YMMV.
These devices are fairly immature, of course. Smart speakers are going to improve over time. A product has to start somewhere.
Apple has fallen behind Amazon and Google in these personal assistants and other tech due to Apple's focus on privacy. Apple needs to do a better job explaining why they are conservative in their approach. This is not to mean they should make commericals about this and blast Amazon and Google, but they should explain to consumers that they have a choice and if they value privacy over super duper ease of use, then Apple's more limited ecosystem may fit their needs well.
Of course, Siri on my iphone X will randomly pick up conversations in the middle of the day and say "I'm sorry I didn't get that" when I never said "hey Siri".
Of course, Siri on my iphone X will randomly pick up conversations in the middle of the day and say "I'm sorry I didn't get that" when I never said "hey Siri".
It's only the future if you buy one...
If not for Apple's privacy policies, I'm quite comfortable knowing that my HomePod's Siri isn't intelligent enough to understand even the simplest of commands, much less conversations.
Live by the Alexa, Embarrassed by the Alexa. I confess I use Siri but not worried about this kind of thing happening because she's like a kid -- never pays attention, always have to repeat myself. Heh.
In this day and age of internet hype and FUD paired with fake news I call BS on a lot these stories.
Yeah, but eventually you find yourself living in the past. At some point the Internet of Things will be built into everything and won't be the early adopter carnival it is today.
How long before one of these devices quits your job or files for a lawsuit by mistake, just because it misunderstood your private conversations?
its only a matter of time how many IOT devices are hacked? i can tell you al lot from IP cams , tvs, nas , internet connected cookpot ...its not safe they are gpoing to kill the internet.. many of them ar already part of botnets...
Well, seems like it's more about a potential security issue at the moment (and one that could be somewhat different than what some are assuming too), but, even beyond that, seems like it would similarly apply to essentially any similar type of product.
Amazon admitted that it happens from time to time. "Amazon takes privacy very seriously. We investigated what happened and determined this was an extremely rare occurrence. We are taking steps to avoid this from happening in the future."
According to non-hysterical stories, it attempted to guess what a command was.
Probably the woman said something to her husband like, "Alex says we should call Tom and ask him about our floors". And the Echo interpreted it as, "Alexa call Tom" and recorded a message to send.
The dumbest headlines out there are ones like "Alexa spied on a woman and sent her conversation to a random contact!"
WHAT A BUNCH OF IDIOT REPORTERS
In this case, the computer was neither "spying" (seriously, kiddies??) nor sending to someone random. It obviously THOUGHT it was told to record and send to a known contact, because of a reportedly rare combination of words and actions.
I see this as one of the expected teething problems of smart assistants. Shoot, even human beings quite often accidentally misinterpret what they're told to do.
I do think that some people need to be able to program in a much longer wakeup word than Alexa or Computer. Or maybe they should just turn off the mike and use the button on top to enable command executions.
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Of course, you are realizing that a HP can't even do anything without you already owning an iDevice (for setup) and almost requires an ongoing, forever sale from Apple for AM.
If Echo's exist to sell us more products, we have the option to say no anytime it might ever try. Say no to Apple's forever AM subscription and HP becomes almost a paperweight.
That's not meant to put Apple down or prop Amazon up- just pointing out that the stones we'll collectively throw at Amazon over this are not the only stones laying around this kind of product.