Sledgehead Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 "Hears you from across the room with 7 microphones for far-field hands-free voice control, even in noisy environments or while playing music" ... and from Amazon's Privacy Notice: Quote What Personal Information About Customers Does Amazon.co.uk Gather? ... Here are the types of information we gather: Information You Give Us: we receive and store any information you enter on our website or give us in any other way. ... ... Automatic Information: we receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. So I guess people will be conducting their telephone banking in the shower. Thank god for the Samsung S7. In fact that's probably the best place to keep an S7. See, tech always has the solution. largely to itself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 Wait till the day comes when it is illegal not to have a smartphone, wi-fi speaker, router or other IOT device with you at all times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notMyName Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 2 minutes ago, The Masked Tulip said: Wait till the day comes when it is illegal not to have a smartphone, wi-fi speaker, router or other IOT device with you at all times. I imagine most of the yoof of today would get upset if you tried to remove their smartphones at any point in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledgehead Posted December 10, 2016 Author Share Posted December 10, 2016 13 minutes ago, Shaneyson said: I pity the poor ******* who had to listen through several weeks of my life in an effort to find anything interesting. Sorry, but have you been in prison for the past 15 years? I ask because you clearly have no idea what this device is capable of. It uses Alexa which is capable of parsing the human spoken word, turning it into text, interpreting the meaning of that text and then offering answers to any questions in that text. In doing this it is obviously able to : - store the text version of your speech at practically zero storage cost (text takes up no room); - tag your text for keywords and search terms; - use tags to profile you. There is no "poor ******" to pity, only your ignorance of what is now possible and routinely deployable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 Wait till your fridge knows what you are buying and the fridges are selling the info to the health companies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledgehead Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 28 minutes ago, Shaneyson said: Challenged as to prison reference, unless it is the panopticon we currently live in? It wasn't a simple 'nothing to hide, nothing to fear' statement, more so that at a point in the data people are going to have to be involved. Everyone, listening to everyone, listening to everyone. The abilities of data gathering you described are already available through mobile phones, I'm sure a few more Sonos with mic's knocking around won't make much of a difference. Rather than worry about the dystopian nightmare I'm going to just get on with life. Nah, you still don't get it. Mobile phones do not parse your speech (unless you are running Siri). For an intelligence agency to do mass surveillance it would need to install an app on everyones phone to do what Alexa does. By using Amazon Echo, you are not only inviting that kind of tech into your home, you are allowing Amazon to parse, store and tag everything you say. And it can link it legally to you through the NMPR Police System. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgul Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 1 hour ago, Sledgehead said: Nah, you still don't get it. Mobile phones do not parse your speech (unless you are running Siri). For an intelligence agency to do mass surveillance it would need to install an app on everyones phone to do what Alexa does. By using Amazon Echo, you are not only inviting that kind of tech into your home, you are allowing Amazon to parse, store and tag everything you say. And it can link it legally to you through the NMPR Police System. Both Google and Apple had to be told off for doing exactly that. I think their excuse was that they were gathering normative data, but it happened, and they didn't ask first. 2 hours ago, Shaneyson said: Challenged as to prison reference, unless it is the panopticon we currently live in? It wasn't a simple 'nothing to hide, nothing to fear' statement, more so that at a point in the data people are going to have to be involved. Everyone, listening to everyone, listening to everyone. The abilities of data gathering you described are already available through mobile phones, I'm sure a few more Sonos with mic's knocking around won't make much of a difference. Rather than worry about the dystopian nightmare I'm going to just get on with life. It is probably the sane approach, but all the same there is a change in the air. I'm not sure where exactly it is heading, but it won't be all benign. We'll have legislation about it all in about 10 year's time. Back to now -- I find it amusing that people are still up-in-arms about state surveillance (snoopers' charter, etc), yet allow the big internet companies to gather all sorts of data about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neon tetra Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 4 hours ago, The Masked Tulip said: Wait till the day comes when it is illegal not to have a smartphone, wi-fi speaker, router or other IOT device with you at all times. We are pretty much in that position here in China. In fact, to sign up to most services you have to give your mobile phone number. All mobile phone numbers are linked to Chinese ID / passport numbers. There are benefits and drawbacks. Not (easily) possible to create a fake identity for trolling, for instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canbuywontbuy Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canbuywontbuy Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 I have to congratulate Amazon on the design - it's a lot smaller and more portable than a telescreen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canbuywontbuy Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Read the comments (article about Google's own listening device in your home) :- http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38193676 Top comment:- Quote "I'd rather not have a listening machine in my house at all I don't care what cutesy names it has. The chances are that even if Google, one of the numerous 3 letter agencies or China don't abuse it to listen in on you, some criminal hacker will find a back door and blackmail you over a private conversation. Cute names don't make you safe, they give you a false sense of security.. " Nice that more and more people are getting it. We don't need a lava-lamp assistant, let alone one that acts as a snitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Dreadful thing; one step closer to living our whole lives on tape. Which is not a good idea in the days of PC thought crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GloomMonger Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 I thought you had to wake it up by saying Alexa. Or does it listen to everything ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 I've said it before and make no apology for saying it again. Over millennia we have evolved into creatures able to influence and control our own destiny. During the last few millennia we have have built a society which allows reasonable individual freedom and privacy in return for respecting a few basic laws. During the last few decades we have used new technology to enslave ourselves to the point where it reminds me of the chemical control used in ant colonies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Trying to imagine what this world will be like in 10-20 years is becoming frighteningly impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 The reason why I posted an image of a smurf above was as a reference to the technology, codename smurf, that Snowden said that the US & UK use to activate the speakers and microphones in switched-off smartphones in order to listen in on conversations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Who would want to listen to my conversations? It's all drivel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 1 hour ago, raindog said: Trying to imagine what this world will be like in 10-20 years is becoming frighteningly impossible. Impossible yes, but the frightening part is probably right. People often call me a luddite, as if I'm blanket against technology. What I'm really against are some of (well, a lot of) the applications of it, of which this is a prime (no pun on Amazon intended) example. The only use I can think of it is to automatically call the men in white coats to drag off anyone who says "nothing to hide, nothing to fear." Even if I don't have anything to hide or fear any mis-use then it's still none of your fecking business. I'm thoroughly against any company having any information about me whatsoever other than needed for the transaction I'm giving right now, for just that reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 16 minutes ago, Riedquat said: Impossible yes, but the frightening part is probably right. People often call me a luddite, as if I'm blanket against technology. What I'm really against are some of (well, a lot of) the applications of it, of which this is a prime (no pun on Amazon intended) example. The only use I can think of it is to automatically call the men in white coats to drag off anyone who says "nothing to hide, nothing to fear." Even if I don't have anything to hide or fear any mis-use then it's still none of your fecking business. I'm thoroughly against any company having any information about me whatsoever other than needed for the transaction I'm giving right now, for just that reason. It's all about control. If you commit an offence you must be punished, if you owe money it must be taken from your bank account, if you are ill you must be treated (medical records). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 11 hours ago, Shaneyson said: I pity the poor ******* who had to listen through several weeks of my life in an effort to find anything interesting. last Tuesday was good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormymonday_2011 Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 If one is to believe Peter Wright British Intelligence could use use standard household phones as listening devices as long ago as the 1960s. My objection to these devices is less the overt political spying by NSA, GCHQ and other intelligence agencies etc but more the surrender of control over the every day aspects of life to commercial and bureaucratic interests. It is one of the reasons I dont routinely carry a mobile phone. I dont want to spend every instant of my life with someone trying to flog me something or hectoring me about some trivial aspects of life such as what and how much I eat and drink etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juvenal Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 1 hour ago, MrPin said: Who would want to listen to my conversations? It's all drivel. How to we know you are not posting/talking in code..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledgehead Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 9 hours ago, dgul said: Both Google and Apple had to be told off for doing exactly that. I think their excuse was that they were gathering normative data, but it happened, and they didn't ask first. Covered that with the Siri reference, but admit I should have added that Android OS has similar Stasi software. Damn thing will dictate for you. 'nuff said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledgehead Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 4 hours ago, GloomMonger said: I thought you had to wake it up by saying Alexa. Or does it listen to everything ? You mean a bit like saying to the missus "darling are you awake"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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