Amazon Isn't Saying If Echo Has Been Wiretapped (zdnet.com)

An anonymous reader writes from a report via ZDNet: Since announcing how many government data requests and wiretap orders it receives, Amazon has so far issued two transparency reports. The two reports outline how many subpoenas, search warrants, and court orders the company received to cloud service, Amazon Web Services. The cloud makes up a large portion of all the data Amazon gathers, but the company does also collect vast amounts of data from its retail businesses, mobile services, book purchases, and requests made to Echo. The company's third report is due to be released in a few weeks but an Amazon spokesperson wouldn't comment on whether or not the company will expand its transparency report to include information regarding whether or not the Amazon Echo has been wiretapped. There are reportedly more than three million Amazon Echo speakers out in the wild. Gizmodo filed a freedom of information (FOIA) request with the FBI earlier this year to see if the agency had wiretapped an Echo as part of a criminal investigation. The FBI didn't confirm or deny wiretapping the Echo. Amazon was recently awarded a patent for drone docking and recharging stations that would be built on tall, existing structures like lampposts, cell towers, or church steeples.

Comments

It has

[UndyingShadow]

So...yes

Re:It has

[quenda]

You mean Amazon ECH(el)O(n) ?

Re:It has

[stealth_finger]

How could it not be.

Re:It has

[AmiMoJo]

Also note that the transparency reports are incomplete. They don't include the number of times that the NSA simply asked GCHQ to hack an Amazon service, rather than bothering to make a legal request.

Re:It has

[tripleevenfall]

This would only tell us if it's been wiretapped LEGALLY.

Two separate topics?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok what the hell's going on lately with a news stories ending with a single sentence talking about a topic completely unrelated to the rest of the post?

Can a story be moderated off topic to itself?

Re:Two separate topics?

[kav2k]

You will find that each instance is edited by BeauHD. It's his "shtick". But I agree it's more often than not irrelevant and annoying.

Re:Two separate topics?

[DoubleUP]

Also.. what does Echo being wiretapped (or not) have to do with a Samsung phone being watertight?

Re:Two separate topics?

[vux984]

But I agree it's more often than not irrelevant and annoying.

Really? I love that 1/2 the time the discussion completely disregards the entire primary story and fixates on the also-ran throw away sentence at the end now. Saves me reading the headline or summary... half time the discussion won't be about it anyway.

The only thing that would be better would be if every article could have a meta discussion about why this is happening that prevents either topic from being discussed! :) /sarcasm off

I agree with you. Its stupid and distracting. Editors please stop.

Re:Two separate topics?

[stealth_finger]

Where's that whiplash guy to tell him to pack it in?!

Re:Two separate topics?

[jellomizer]

Much of our interpretation of the news is based on emotion.
So a story about how Amazon is doing something scary to us. Is then quickly followed up by them doing something good or neutral, taints that story's tone, and makes it seem more worrisome.

We seem to forget that Organizations/Governments (especially large ones) do a lot of things with many different motives and sometimes they will do things that contradict itself. Because so much is going on there are many units running independent with each other, thus causing such confusion. Rarely do we have the Evil Corporation but sub units in such corporation doing bad things, while others are doing wonderful things. Granted such companies should have ways to stop the bad things from happening, and more often than not they will turn a blind eye, or reward them for hacking their metrics for success, encouraging such bad behavior. But for most of these things, there isn't Mr. Evil running everything with a devious purpose, but a bunch of people who are for the most part good, having to cut a corner or compromise to keep their jobs then it all adds up.

Users provide equipment for their own survellance

[gweihir]

"Echo" is just one of the more obvious ways to do so. Smartphones, laptop-microphones, etc. are all fair game these days, because most citizens are asleep at the wheel.

easy answer

[aepervius]

"Amazon Isn't Saying If Echo Has Been Wiretapped " that means they were told to not say it has been and they decided to not lie. There is no reason whatsoever to not tell they were not wiretaped.

Re:easy answer

[mark-t]

I'm not so sure about that... The feds probably wouldn't tell you anything even if you hadn't been tapped, so not telling you that you havent been wiretapped wouldn't mean anything you could (probably saying something like if they had, they couldn't tell you anyways), and so you probably can't make a reasonable inference from it as you might think.

the Zdnet link

[Anonymous Coward]

The ZDNET link takes me to an article about the Samsung phones warerproofing.

We have a Reddit business model here. Troll headlines, people who don't read the article, commenting and people keep coming back - it's all about generating advertising revenue, boys!

Infotainment is what media is about. Makes makes me want to throw every goddamn peice of electronic shit in my house out the door.

Re:the Zdnet link

[Tourney3p0]

It's not a Reddit business model. It's Reddit users who come here because they're way too good for Reddit. And then they try to make this place Reddit.

If you have Amazon echo...

[Anonymous Coward]

... you're an idiot, you're willingly giving up your right to privacy inside your house, and you simply deserve to be wiretapped. Any internet-connected device could be "wiretapped", but in this case we are talking about something whose only and explicit purpose is to listen to what happens inside your house and send everything to "the cloud" (i.e., somebody else that can do whatever it wants with it), without the user being able to set up any sort of security measures. That's purely idiotic self wiretapping, not government wiretapping. No sympathy for amazon echo users, sorry.

Re:If you have Amazon echo...

[stealth_finger]

Any internet-connected device could be "wiretapped", but in this case we are talking about something whose only and explicit purpose is to listen to what happens inside your house and send everything to "the cloud"

Isn't the main explicit point to sell you more and more shit so easily you don't realise you're buying it? The massive data uptake for the alphabet gangs to rife through is just a happy bonus.

Because it is being used as a surveillance device.

[MrKaos]

Just like everything else than can be.

Orwell's Telescreen?

[ai4px]

All party members were expected to purchase the telescreen device and never switch it off so the party could monitor them. The telescreen could be dimmed but never turned off.

Look for warrant canaries

[pem]

Yes, kids, you too can try this at home.

Actual transcription from a "conversation" between me and Alexa:

"Alexa, do you work for the CIA?"
"Hmmm. I can't find the answer to the question I heard."
"Alexa, do you work for the FBI?"
"No, I'm not employed by them. I'm made by Amazon."
"Alexa, do you work for the NSA?"
(no voice -- descending 5th musical tone)

Ho ho ho

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

That's like if your friend asks you if you think he should go out with some girl you know, and you say, "You're both friends of mine and I don't want to say anything bad about anyone." You've answered his question by not answering it.

Whether Amazon says so or not, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Echo has been tapped. These days I'd be more surprised if it hadn't been. Think about it- the opportunity to eavesdrop on millions of people, with Amazon providing the hardware. What's not to like about that?

Re:Users provide equipment for their own survellan

[lgw]

What I want to see as standard in all devices is a very visible hard switch for camera and microphone that will physically turn it off. If I want to have a private conversation, turn off the microphone. If I don't want video of me walking around naked in the living room being on the Internet, then flip the switch. I don't trust software switches... because they can be remotely switched by hackers. I mean an actual physical switch that sits between the microphone and camera and the rest of the device.

The NSA also loves this idea. "Now he thinks he's switching off the camera."

Re:Users provide equipment for their own survellan

[sjames]

Sounds like you don't understand that most people have no way of knowing if the physical switch shuts off the camera or just the little red light.