Project Alias Hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home To Protect Your Privacy (fastcompany.com)

fahrbot-bot writes: The gadget, called Alias, is an always-listening speaker, designed to fit on top of an Amazon Echo or Google Home, where it looks like a mass of melted candle wax. It's composed of a 3D-printed top layer, a mic array, a Raspberry Pi, and two speakers. It only connects to the internet during the initial setup process. Alias stays "off the grid" while you're using it, preventing your conversations from leaving the device. When the Alias hears its own (customizable) wake word, it'll stop broadcasting white noise and wake up Alexa or Google Assistant so you can use them as normal.

Comments

Re:I only see one problem

[lazarus]

Doesn't have to be a "conspiracy". How do you KNOW the mute button works or what it does?

Because it is a hardware switch which cuts off electricity to the microphone. This has been explored by many many tear-downs. Search for yourself.

So unless someone has sneaked into your house/office and swapped it for some elaborate bypass it is not going to hear anything when it is activated.

Snips

[GodWasAnAlien]

Instead, why not give/throw/sell the alexa/google device away,
and just put Snips on a Raspberry pi?