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Amazon and Google Fight Bill That Prohibits Secretly Recording You (vice.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the hear-hear dept.

An anonymous reader quotes Vice: On Wednesday, the Illinois State Senate passed the Keep Internet Devices Safe Act, a bill that would ban manufacturers of devices that can record audio from doing so remotely without disclosing it to the customer. But after lobbying from trade associations that represent the interests of Google, Amazon -- makers of the microphone-enabled Google Home and Alexa smart speakers, respectively -- and Microsoft, among other companies, the interests of big tech won out... In its current, neutered form, the bill provides exclusive authority to the Attorney General to enforce the Act, which means regular citizens won't be able to bring forward a case regarding tech giants recording them in their homes.
Ars Technica notes the move comes after Amazon admitted thousands of their employees listen to Alexa recordings -- "something not mentioned in Echo's terms of service or FAQ pages."

Vice points out that sometimes those recordings are shared "even after users opt out of having their data used in the program."

4 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Eavesdropping? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Shouldn't Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, and other managers at Amazon and Google face jail time already for their crimes?

  2. Re:Opt out by not buying and using these devices? by darkain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You mean like your cell phone? Because these have always-on listening capabilities too, now. How about laptops with built in microphones? It is seriously getting harder and harder to NOT have these devices, and that's the point of passing laws.

  3. That is not already illegal? by gweihir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because in any sane legal system, it is.

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  4. Re:Doesn't make sense by pauljlucas · · Score: 4, Informative

    Didn't they already consent to being recorded by buying a device that's entire purpose is to record them?

    No. It's right there in the summary (emphasis mine):

    ... the move comes after Amazon admitted thousands of their employees listen to Alexa recordings -- "something not mentioned in Echo's terms of service or FAQ pages."

    There's a difference between Amazon recording you for the purpose of Alexa (a computer program) listening to those recordings and employees (humans) listening to those recordings --- the latter is not disclosed.

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