Amazon May Give Developers Your Private Alexa Transcripts (engadget.com)

According to The Information, Amazon may give developers access to your private Alexa audio recordings. Until now, Amazon has not given third-party developers access to what you say to the voice assistant, while Google has with its Google Home speaker. Engadget reports: So far, Alexa developers can only see non-identifying information, like the number of times you use a specific skill, how many times you talk to your Echo device and your location data. The Information reports that some developers have heard from Amazon representatives about more access to actual transcripts, though how and how much wasn't discovered. If developers knew what exactly is being said to their skills, they could make adjustments based on specific information.

Comments

So here's a question:

[PFactor]

When people speak in Star Trek, the computer is always listening. What changed in that hypothetical future's past that needs to change in our present to make wholesale gathering of our voice comms acceptable?

Re:So here's a question:

[sgage]

It requires people to just give up any notion of being a private person, and just becoming a sheep. It would also require trust - trust of corporations, and trust of government.

Also, Star Trek is fiction.

Re:So here's a question:

[vux984]

"When people speak in Star Trek, the computer is always listening. What changed in that hypothetical future's past that needs to change in our present to make wholesale gathering of our voice comms acceptable?"

Its an interesting question.
The capabilities of the star trek technology means that within a few seconds of Picard/Riker or Kirk/Spock/Scotty/etc decided to breach protocol or violate an order and discussing it anywhere on the ship... his superior officer would show up on the view screen and relieve him of duty; and teleport him to the ships brig.

Real-time spying of everyone on the ship at all times... would turn into a dystopia pretty quick.

They'd need a constitution that guaranteed them absolute privacy; and complete immunity from persecution/prosecution from such eavesdropping/electronic monitoring if it were to take place. And a system of checks and balances that had the people's faith that the audio wasn't being archived, reviewed, and misused.

Re:So here's a question:

[theweatherelectric]

Being able to replicate anything you want at any time you want makes money irrelevant

Except that you can't replicate everything. Star Trek never addressed the ownership of real estate in the Federation beyond saying "well, there are lots of planets to colonize and lots of places to live". Picard's brother lived in a vineyard. Why did he live there and not someone else? How do you transact the ownership of real estate outside of war and inheritance in the Star Trek universe? Other Star Trek empires still used money for these problems.

Replicators are a nice idea but they don't solve the whole economic problem.

Re:So here's a question:

[jordanjay29]

You forget that all the occupants of ships on Star Trek were members or guests of a paramilitary organization. They'd have to give up their privacy in that respect when they joined or boarded the ship, in order to make use of such conveniences for Starfleet's purposes. This easily sidesteps today's privacy concerns since Starfleet owns and operates the ships of its own fleet. Rarely do we see civilian homes in the shows, and I can't recall a time when a civilian had a computer system like Starfleet.

Use mycroft.ai

[HalAtWork]

Previously mentioned on Slashdot, Mycroft.ai can be built on a Raspberry Pi and perhaps other clones, and voice processing can be done locally. If I wanted something like this I'd probably use that.

Re:Use mycroft.ai

[HalAtWork]

That's why you can use a local server to host the speech processing parts.

Dont buy

[AHuxley]

Devices with microphones that cant be turned off.
Devices with microphones that connect to networks and want recordings.
IoT from .coms that want recordings.

Re:Dont buy

[kamapuaa]

I'm typing this on a laptop with a microphone and internet access. I also have a phone by my desk with a microphone and internet access. My TV, with a microphone and internet access, is downstairs. I guess there's also my wife's tablet, with a microphone and internet access, downstairs. Does an XBox One have a mic in it?

Give over it bub. We're in the 21st century, there's stuff with microphones has internet access. In another decade or two the list will probably be ten times as long. Throwing our electronics in the fire is a futile Luddite approach to the issue of potential police over-surveillance.

Paying for the Privilege of Being Bugged

[crunchygranola]

I am not letting a corporation install bugging devices in my home, and I am sure as hell not going to pay for the privilege.

Re:Just fuckin' perfect.

[Oswald McWeany]

I went ahead and bought a Dot on Prime Day because they were dirt cheap. Now I see what the larger plan was. FUCK. Sending it back.

The problem isn't having a device that can listen in on you.

The problem is that there is no regulation of privacy. The company gets to set the rule. It's one thing while devices like DOT are novelties. You as an individual buy them and bring them into your own home.

10 years from now, almost every room you step in, and almost every new car you buy, and almost street you walk down is going to have internet connected devices. Many of which will be recording you or one or more aspect about you. These aren't going to be devices you buy specifically in many cases. Shopkeepers will be recording you as you walk past their shops. When you fill up your car- BP will be scanning your license plate. The government will be tracking you as you drive down the street. In your car your insurance company will have a required mic and video.

In your own home you may not be able to buy a toaster without internet requirements and your mandatory cable box or internet modem

Everyone is going to be spying on you. It won't just be your Dot. You're not going to have a choice.

What needs to be done is privacy regulations put in place BEFORE this happens, not afterwards. No company should be able to share any data about you without your expressed permission. Nor can a company offer any sort of carrot or stick incentives for sharing data. A company should not be allowed to discriminate in any way between users who chose to share data and those who don't/