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

Posted by BeauHD on from the safety-first dept.

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.

4 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why connect to the internet even once? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It goes beyond that, the companies involved on the back-end making claims of "oh, it's not listening to you much," or "oh, we encrypt everything in the cloud" and then you find the insecure AWS folder full of videos...

    This is before black-hats figure out how to trivially botnet them into a superweapon, this is just how the companies that sold you the damn spying devices "for your convenience" value your privacy and security. Lip service.

    Amazon's RING security cameras with the backend "god" mode that they literally gave out unsecured unlimited access to a Ukranian software contractor... It just goes on and on and on forever.

    It's not about hackers, they'll always be the outsider threat. It's about lazy fucking morons. This is the threat to us all. Morons.

  2. I only see one problem by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anyone valuing his privacy enough to use such a device probably already would not allow an eavesdropping device to exist in his living room. So who exactly is the target audience?

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    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:I only see one problem by ichimunki · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How would I know if the "Do Not Disturb" button worked? Wireshark. Even if the device listens but doesn't respond, what matters is whether it phones home-- and that can be monitored. It should not be connecting to the network until after it recognizes the wake word... now I suppose it could record and then wait for the wake word to transmit... but if I'm that paranoid, why wouldn't I just install a bunch of smart sockets to turn the power to my devices off when I want true privacy? Or why would I get devices like these in the first place?

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      I do not have a signature
  3. Simpler, cheaper solution by Tyger-ZA · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Unplug your spy devices, permanently