Police Request Amazon Echo Recordings For Homicide Investigation (cnet.com)

Tulsa_Time quotes a report from CNET: Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot are in millions of homes now, with holiday sales more than quadrupling from 2015. Always listening for its wake word, the breakthrough smart speakers boast seven microphones waiting to take and record your commands. Now, Arkansas police are hoping an Echo found at a murder scene in Bentonville can aid their investigation. [First reported by The Information, investigators filed search warrants to Amazon, requesting any recordings between November 21 and November 22, 2015, from James A. Bates, who was charged with murder after a man was strangled in a hot tub. While investigating, police noticed the Echo in the kitchen and pointed out that the music playing in the home could have been voice activated through the device. While the Echo records only after hearing the wake word, police are hoping that ambient noise or background chatter could have accidentally triggered the device, leading to some more clues. Amazon has not sent any recordings to the officers but did provide Bates' account information to authorities, according to court documents. The retailer giant said it doesn't release customer information without a "valid and binding legal demand." "Amazon objects to over-broad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course," the company said in a statement. Even without Amazon's help, police may be able to crack into the Echo, according to the warrant. Officers believe they can tap into the hardware on the smart speakers, which could "potentially include time stamps, audio files or other data."] Police also found a Nest thermostat, a Honeywell alarm system, wireless weather monitoring in the backyard and WeMo devices for lighting at the smart home crime scene. Officers have also seized an iPhone 6S, a Macbook Pro, a PlayStation 4 and three tablets in the investigation.

Comments

Bugs

[Anonymous Coward]

People intentionally bugging their own homes and paying a corporation for the privilege to do so.

Re:Bugs

[chispito]

Audio is only uploaded once the wake word is used. As it exclusively uses your home wifi, it is easy to test for and monitor this, unlike the phone you likely carry in your pocket.

Because when you say this

People intentionally bugging their own homes and paying a corporation for the privilege to do so.

I read this

I am irrationally scared of an Echo but not by the phone in my pocket.

Re:Bugs

[PraiseBob]

Do police regularly request cellular phone companies to provide recordings of ambient audio recorded by cellphones? In this example, the police DO treat an Echo differently from a cell phone, and the DO expect it to have stored audio that might aid their investigation, because unlike a cell phone, the echo records everything when active.

Law enforcement treats the objects differently, so seems perfectly rational for consumers to notice the difference.

Re:Bugs

[hawguy]

Do police regularly request cellular phone companies to provide recordings of ambient audio recorded by cellphones? In this example, the police DO treat an Echo differently from a cell phone, and the DO expect it to have stored audio that might aid their investigation, because unlike a cell phone, the echo records everything when active.

Law enforcement treats the objects differently, so seems perfectly rational for consumers to notice the difference.

How would you know what the police do with cell phones? Law enforcement even hides whether or not they use a stingray at all, and there is very little information about what the devices are and what they are capable of - maybe they really can remotely turn on your phone's microphone and record what you're saying? And all of these secrecy comes not just with the Justice Department's blessing, but at the outright request of the Justice department.

...The documents also discuss the possibility of flashing a phone’s firmware “so that you can intercept conversations using a suspect’s cell phone as a bug...

https://www.wired.com/2015/10/...

Re: Bugs

[ShanghaiBill]

1. They have sold millions, so I figure somebody has checked.
2. If they were actually recording everything, a lot of people would have to be in on the secret.
3. I assume that Amazon is run by greedy bastards, and they wouldn't build a lot of expensive extra capacity into a device if there was no profit in it for them.
4. If they were spying, and got caught, it would have terrible effects on their reputation, and cost them a lot of customers.

Re:Never saw this coming

[Crashmarik]

Oh just don't indulge in thoughtcrime and everything will be doubleplusgood.

Notable missing gadget

[MrNiceguy_KS]

From the summary:

Police also found a Nest thermostat, a Honeywell alarm system, wireless weather monitoring in the backyard and WeMo devices for lighting at the smart home crime scene. Officers have also seized an iPhone 6S, a Macbook Pro, a PlayStation 4 and three tablets in the investigation.

All those gadgets, but this guy didn't have a security camera?

Re:Never saw this coming

[zlives]

did i miss the amazon denial of recordings?

Re:Most already pay for and carry their own tracki

[zenlessyank]

Find the richest fuck and then work downhill.