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News Anchor Sets Off Alexa Devices Around San Diego Ordering Unwanted Dollhouses

posted by mrpg on Saturday January 07 2017, @09:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the girls-don't-mind-amazon-either dept.

Runaway1956 writes:

The Amazon Echo system which does everything from getting your weather report to ordering more laundry detergent can also do some things you don't want it to.

[...] Which is exactly what happened today during CW6 in the morning when Jim Patton and Lynda Martin were talking about a child who accidentally bought a dollhouse and four pounds of cookies

"I love the little girl, saying 'Alexa ordered me a dollhouse,'" said Patton.

As soon as Patton said that, viewers all over San Diego started complaining their echo devices had tried to order doll houses. It's a common problem experts say can be avoided.

[...] Cobb says the Federal Trade Commission is already looking into voice-command devices and toys to make sure the technology is safe and secure. For now, he recommends do your research to keep your personal information controlled and protected.

Source: News anchor sets off Alexa devices around San Diego ordering unwanted dollhouses

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  • (Score: 2) by cellocgw on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:32PM

    by cellocgw (4190) on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:32PM (#450862)

    Probably 0.00001% of people who bought Alexa have no idea you can set the access phrase/word to anything you want.
    I'm changing mine to "hunter2"

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  • (Score: 2) by Wierd0n3 on Sunday January 08 2017, @12:25AM

    by Wierd0n3 (1033) on Sunday January 08 2017, @12:25AM (#450903)

    Really? I was only aware of echo|Amazon|Alexa being the only choices available. I know you can have it whatever you want if you install the Dev Kit into a RPI project. (but that still doesn't affect the Echo...

    Side note. Amazon ships these things with "voice ordering" OFF. you have to do a few steps to turn it on. Those people get what they want. a no effort way to order, but then so do the kids..... (my friend tried to order a kayak that way as a joke from my echo. thankfully, i'm slightly paranoid of such a easy way to impulse buy.)