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Several SoylentNews readers have submitted this story:
Amazon Echo is a voice-activated and cloud-connected speaker device that actively listens to a room using several microphones and communicates with Amazon servers to perform various queries and tasks.
Warrant Filed for Amazon Echo Records in Arkansas Murder Case
Arkansas police filed what is believed to be the first request to retrieve information from an Amazon Echo device in a homicide investigation.
[...] Authorities charged Bates, 31, with murder earlier this year, but police in the Ozark city are now looking to find evidence on his Echo, according to The Information [paywalled].
[...] Amazon twice refused to hand over information requested by police, according to The Information, but gave them Bates' account information and purchase history.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it "will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us."
[Continues...]
US Police Request Amazon Echo Data in Murder Case - Amazon Says No
US police have issued Amazon with two search warrants which they have refused. More info is available from the BBC.
Difficult one this. I wouldn't have a device like the Echo in my home. But I can understand why people would want the device. Should have Amazon given up the data on request?
Editor's note: Also at Engadget, USA Today, and The Verge.
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3 Original Submission #4
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @02:07PM
You know some of us aren't exactly hip to all the new wonderful crap.
(Score: 4, Informative) by nobu_the_bard on Thursday December 29 2016, @03:11PM
It's a "smart house" toy sort of thing. It consists of a speaker and microphone built into a cylinder-shaped thing that link up to Amazon's cloud via the internet.
You can give it spoken commands and it can respond to questions (like asking for the weather), order stuff from amazon (except for certain categories of high-demand items like shoes), play music, and some other stuff. If you have "smart house" stuff like thermostats and lights it can control, you can link those up, so you can give it orders like "turn the lights down".
That should be enough to get what it is, more or less.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @03:29PM
What it is?
It's a variation on the Soviet theme of microconcrete. Concrete with microphones in it. There are a few innovations this time around. The Soviet State paid for the construction of housing for foreign visitors, that had microconcrete panels built-in. The devices were tastefully hidden a centimeter or so behind the surface and powered by an external RF source usually. They had no internet uplink, and there had to be a room full of recording equipment nearby to store voice data. Transcription was done by paid employees, earning a living wage.
This time, you pay for the device, you pay for electricity it consumes, you must connect it yourself to the internet. A program on servers far away transcribes the voice into text and extracts meaning, intention and emotional levels, maybe. Don't know for sure, the source code is not available for review. If the device breaks after its warranty runs out, you have to buy a new one. Funnily enough, if one talks to Echo/Cortana/Siri, it actually answers, much unlike the KGB operatives! This is marketed as the products main feature.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:20PM
Sorry about that. I put some more explanation in the summary.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @06:10PM
Thank you for this as well as all the hard work you put in for Soy.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday December 30 2016, @06:19PM
You're welcome and thanks.
Let's see if this energy drink I just opened causes me bodily harm.
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(Score: 2) by Anne Nonymous on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:55PM
You know some of us aren't exactly hip to all the new wonderful crap.