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Amazon Shares Data With Arkansas Prosecutor In Murder Case (ap.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Associated Press: Amazon dropped its fight against a subpoena issued in an Arkansas murder case after the defendant said he wouldn't mind if the technology giant shared information that may have been gathered by an Amazon Echo smart speaker. James Andrew Bates has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Victor Collins, who was found dead in a hot tub at Bates' home. In paperwork filed Monday, Bates said Amazon could share the information and Amazon said it handed over material on Friday. The Echo "listens" for key words and may have recorded what went on before Collins was found dead in November 2015. Amazon had fought a subpoena, citing its customers' privacy rights. A hearing had been set for Wednesday on whether any information gathered was even pertinent.
And that's why these companies need to take a leaf out of Apple's book - don't collect data if you don't want to share it with law enforcement. Siri doesn't record you, and doesn't transmit anything to a server until it locally recognises "Hey Siri", or you physically press a button.
Of course, all these other companies are busy trying to mine all your user data, so they're busy transmitting and storing everything they possibly can. Then they try to pull the "user privacy" defence when they themselves have been busy violating your privacy.