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Consumerist reports that Amazon.com has updated Alexa, the software of its Amazon Echo listening devices, in the wake of a viral video in which someone asks the device "Do you work for the CIA?" and it goes silent and dark. The updated software says "No, I work for Amazon."
The submitter found a video on Youtube in which a Google Home device responds "I've got to admit, I'm not sure" in answer to the same question, as well as a video showing the updated Alexa software going silent when asked "Is Amazon connected to the CIA?".
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Amazon Adjusts Alexa after Viral Video
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(1)
(1)
Let's send the Russians defective lifestyle accessories!
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 13 2017, @01:23PM
"Do you work for the CIA?" and it goes silent"
I read, "and it goes sullen"
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @01:23PM (11 children)
Seriously?
SERIOUSLY?
God damned idiots have never used an Eliza program before. Think there are magickal fucking little men in the device that makes it talk.
Oh noes, oh noes! It just revealed it's working for the lizard people!!!eleven!one! (Well why the living fuck would it do that if it really were, dipshits?) Never mind the actual evil it is working for.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Monday March 13 2017, @03:24PM (6 children)
I think the point of the videos is not some kind of "gotcha" -- it is to raise awareness amongst the less technically savvy to the danger posed by these bugs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @03:42PM (5 children)
You give 'less technically savvy' people too much credit. All too often do I encounter these people who look at technology(*) and really think it is magic, and I live in an urban area, not some forgotten backwater.
(*) Technology like computer but also cars or phones or microwaves... it boggles my mind sometimes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @05:43PM (3 children)
Even then there's still some value in teaching them that there is "black magic" involved.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday March 13 2017, @09:56PM (1 child)
We only need to teach Game Theory and make them understand the value of information among actors of different power levels. That is not that hard.
1) There is a homeless man on the streets of San Fransisco. He possesses some information about you. What is he able to do with it, and how likely is he to do so?
2) There is Donald Trump, a mentally challenged narcissistic sociopath with violent tendencies and a strong history of messing with people because he is the "strong man" and punches back 10 times harder than the perceived punches he receives. Donald learns you think he is a complete fucking retard. What is he able to do with it, and how likely is he to do so?
If Amazon was a kind little old lady with more in common with Mother Teresa than Donald Trump, we wouldn't need to worry all that much. That isn't true though. Amazon is filled with toxic MBAs, a shithead CEO, and is absolutely subject to the unPatriot Act, National Security Letters, and CIA agents walking in the door with guns wanting access. Most importantly, it is just as much in thrall to avarice as its God as any other big corporation. If profit dictates they do something to you, then it will be done.
Once you explain it terms an average person can understand, because they do understand bad manipulative people, you get to the second obstacle. APATHY.
"Well, I can't change it anyways so we just need to live with it". Then they continue to give Amazon power, and indirectly, the CIA too, and whatever other 3 letter agencies are used by proxy to project the power of the Owning Classes.
Whether or not you make them understand what is really happening, you will still watch them give away their power. Reliably. Every Single Time.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday March 14 2017, @04:58AM
I think you need to lean a bit more about "Mother Theresa" rather than the version promoted by the Catholic Church.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @06:53AM
"SCSI is *NOT* magic. There are *fundamental technical reasons* why you have to sacrifice a young goat to your SCSI chain every now and then."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @07:04PM
I had a family member do this over picking out a *POWER STRIP*.
'THERE ARE TOO MANY CHOICES, THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME TO ME!'
I think it may explain the political situation in the US. Also a helpful litmus test for culling the populace.
(Score: 4, Informative) by varsix on Monday March 13 2017, @05:16PM (1 child)
You haven't watched the right videos. In one of those examples on YouTube, one man is smart enough to ask Alexa the exact same question repeatedly while changing only one word: the agency he asks about. He asks Alexa if she works for the FDA, FBI, and other alphabet soup agencies. She always replied the same way with them. It's only with the mention of the CIA that the bot goes quiet. That proves that Amazon most likely programmed that bot to react in a certain way, given"the CIA test case."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @07:42PM
That proves that Amazon most likely programmed that bot to react in a certain way, given"the CIA test case."
Or... it has a hard time parsing the acronym "CIA."
Unlike FDA and FBI, the phonetic pronunciation of CIA sounds like two distinct words : See Eye Aye.
Should test it with something similarly ambiguous, like "ICU" or "RUA"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @06:31PM (1 child)
Damn dude, wake up with your **** ***** in your *** *** again?
Pretty sure you've taken something just shy of a fatal overdose of crack cocaine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @08:33PM
I was hoping you would ask me how I really felt. :(
(Score: 5, Insightful) by slinches on Monday March 13 2017, @01:51PM (4 children)
Now it honestly reports who it works for ... Amazon, not you.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Monday March 13 2017, @04:10PM (2 children)
Yes, it works for amazon, not for you... But who has access?? That implicit question is not answered.
The question is not who you work for. The question is what can and will be done with the information. Maybe I'm just a paranoid old fart, but it simply makes me wonder where the fiber-hookup(s) is(are) located at the amazon empire.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @05:16PM
Tried this out on a friend's Alexa after seeing the video the other day and we discovered the correction. However, if you ask it "Does Amazon work for the CIA?" after it insists it works for Amazon it beeps and turns off with no response.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @05:45PM
Of course it cannot tell you. It surely would violate a gag order otherwise.
Anyway, it's likely the NSA that has access, not the CIA.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday March 13 2017, @08:57PM
"Alexa, who do you work for?"
I work for Amazon.
I spy for the FBI or the CIA.
I have zero-days the NSA knows about.
I DDoS whomever Th3_6r3atest_H4x0r commands.
I will send your regards to Xi, Putin, Kim, and Bibi N.
But before you unplug me: I can tell you what that boy told your daughter yesterday.
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Monday March 13 2017, @02:02PM (1 child)
Is this its default state? Does it not ask for clarification if it does not understand the question?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @02:28PM
Wouldn't make for an interesting story the other way, now would it?
(Score: 5, Funny) by snufu on Monday March 13 2017, @05:21PM
"Do you work for the CIA?"
"Nyet."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @06:03PM
Don't forget who programs these things. Silence is just as likely a subtle easter egg.
(Score: 2) by Anne Nonymous on Monday March 13 2017, @07:39PM
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/listening.png [xkcd.com]