Alexa IS listening to your conversations

RadishRose

RadishRose

SF VIP
Location
Connecticut, USA
[h=2]Web giant ADMITS clips are analysed by Amazon workers - including your most intimate moments[/h]
Amazon workers are listening to private and sometimes disturbing voice recordings from Alexa to improve the voice-assistants' understanding of human speech.


The company has admitted to its customers that thousands of recordings are being analysed by staff and transcribed before feeding them back into the software.


As many as 1,000 clips are reviewed by workers in buildings all over the world, many of which do not bear any obvious indication that they are run by Amazon.


Among more sinister content the workers have heard, have been a child screaming for help and two instances were they believed they heard a sexual assault taking place.


The revelations once again raise thorny ethical questions over the future of AI smart assistants in the home, how tech companies like Amazon are gathering personal information and just what they are - and should - be doing with it.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6910791/Alexa-listening-conversations.html
 

Sounds like an interesting job! :)

I don’t have Alexa but if I did, I’d bore them to tears....usually quiet at my house except for occasional barking.

If it saved someone’s life, also good.

Im sure people that like their privacy won’t like this but I’m an open book and really don’t care ....
 
I think that's creepy and one of the main reasons I'd probably never get anything like that in my home. They were just talking about that on a radio show, one woman said she didn't want her privacy invaded, and the man said it didn't bother him, he has nothing to hide. I'm the type that even if I have nothing to hide, I don't like the idea of strangers in remote locations hearing all my private conversations in my home.
 
We have 2 Amazon echoes ( alexas)... and one Google Home... and I don't give a monkey's what it hears, it's nothing interesting, we don't discuss finances in the rooms where the listening devices are , or anything that would put us in any danger, nor do we talk about causing harm to anyone else.. so let it listen away...
 
I saw that on the evening news.

IMO they should be obligated to report any suspicious conversations where illegal activity is heard or a crime may have been committed. The criminals deserve to be caught if they are stupid enough to own one of these machines.

The only way I would consider having one would be as a personal assistant if I become too old or infirm to live safely on my own.

When that time comes all they will hear is the thud when I finally hit the floor. :):playful::eek:nthego:
 
I don't have any smart things here so I am not worried. Alexa would be bored around here. Would not mind having one of those jobs though.
 
terry123 said:
I don't have any smart things here so I am not worried. Alexa would be bored around here. Would not mind having one of those jobs though.
Click to expand...

We can take turns!

Lily-Ernestine.jpg
 
Aunt Bea said:
I saw that on the evening news.

IMO they should be obligated to report any suspicious conversations where illegal activity is heard or a crime may have been committed. The criminals deserve to be caught if they are stupid enough to own one of these machines.

The only way I would consider having one would be as a personal assistant if I become too old or infirm to live safely on my own.

When that time comes all they will hear is the thud when I finally hit the floor. :):playful::eek:nthego:
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They could maybe come in handy, living alone, as a medical alert .... Help, I've fallen and can't get up! ....
 
Of course Alexa is listening, just like any other voice activated/voice responsive device like a cell phone, a voice contro''ed computer or tablet, car, microwave oven or any other kitchen device. That's what they do!

Like humans listening on a train of in a supermarket.

If you don't want them to hear you turn them off, or don't talk about private things!
 
Yup. What's worse is that all of these devices can be hacked. I have no devices in the house that can be accessed via a smartphone (I don't have that either). I'm always stating that as a former IT guy, there is no security, but there are many ways to protect yourself, and not being 'connected' via wifi is one of the better ones.
 
.

In Orwell's novel, "1984", private residences had both microphones
and video monitoring called "telescreens" [televisions that viewed you
as well as being viewed by you.]

Quote from "1984":

" For some reason the telescreen in the living-room was in an unusual
position. Instead of being placed, as was normal, in the end wall, where
it could command the whole room, it was in the longer wall, opposite the
window. To one side of it there was a shallow alcove in which Winston
was now sitting, and which, when the flats were built, had probably been
intended to hold bookshelves. By sitting in the alcove, and keeping well
back, Winston was able to remain outside the range of the telescreen, so
far as sight went. He could be heard, of course, but so long as he stayed
in his present position he could not be seen. "

.
 
I don’t have Alexa but if I did, I’d bore them to tears....usually quiet at my house except for occasional barking.
Click to expand...

CeeCee, are you saying you bark occasionally?

Aunt Bea, I love the crocheted Alexa cozies! What a brilliant idea!
 
My folks told us kids about telephone "party lines" they had to deal with when they were growing up. Plus ca change. . . :eek:hwell:

And "Marketeers" never sleep. That's the real price of "free", right?
 
I learned tonight when 5G WiFi hits the market we will lose more privacy than ever before. Not sure what they meant by that exactly but it was on the CBS evening news. Interestingly they mentioned all the technology will come from China. Sadly, young people and newborns will see this as normal. Like a candle out freedoms are slowly melting away. Long ago Marshall McLuhan said "We become what we behold."
 
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Yup, there was a time way back when once you walked into your house and closed the door, it was all yours. I can still remember that, total silence - no phone , no TV and no parrot!! and now listening devices from China and I bet they can't even cook a chop suey??
 

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