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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: 4, Funny) by edIII on Thursday December 29 2016, @07:57PM
You may need to get your Trek right.
Personal logs weren't something I think every single citizen was using, but something found on space ships. That makes sense when some really hairy shit can happen in space and you *need* something like that. Accessing a personal log required authority, like say, from command or medical. There had to be imminent danger to the ship, or that person, to access those logs. That's why they were there in the first place because you never know what information is going to help exploring the unknown.
Socially, the Trek world was far more advanced. Even though command could open up personal logs, do you really suspect Captain Jean-Luc Picard of rifling through underlings personal and private communications? The people in charge were simply better people and far more trustworthy with your privacy. Somebody violating privacy in the 24th century would lose the trust of others, not be fucking rewarded like it is in the 21st. It would be well outside the norms of acceptable behavior.
Finally, it *WASN'T* the Federation that accessed and provided those logs. Kirk surrendered the ship to prevent a diplomatic incident and the Klingons took whatever they needed under their laws while in possession of the ship. While it's never mentioned that much, a foreign power was actually in possession of the Enterprise and its technology for just a little while.
In keeping with theme here, Amazon is the fucking Ferengi. Of course they want their big fucking ears everywhere listening to everything. Probably a Rule of Acquisition. Since their only motivation is profit, I'm going to roast in Hell before I completely and utterly give up my privacy to a private corporation literally filled with Ferengi.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.