Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Thursday January 26 2017, @05:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the Dear-aunt,-let's-set-so-double-the-killer-delete-select-all dept.

Interesting story at vocative.com

Demonic sounds are usually related to evil spirits, but researchers have found a way to turn them into "hidden voice commands" for Android devices.

A group of Ph.D. candidates at Georgetown and University of California, Berkeley developed a series of voice commands that can be recognized and executed by smartphone virtual assistants, but not very easily by human ears.

Some of the things these hidden commands can potentially do include sending a tweet, making a phone call, or even using Venmo to transfer money. Or, in a cyberattack scenario, a hidden command could open a website that automatically downloads malware, which then leads to hackers having full control of your device.

[...] A similar situation occurred earlier this month when a child accidentally ordered a $150 doll house from Amazon by simply asking Amazon's Alexa, "Can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?"

Those assistants need to recognize who is speaking...


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @06:16AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @06:16AM (#458837)

    If I had to choose between giving up some personal info or having my kid accidentally order a $150 doll house from Amazon....

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Thursday January 26 2017, @10:04AM

    by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday January 26 2017, @10:04AM (#458865)

    If I had to choose between giving up some personal info or having my kid accidentally order a $150 doll house from Amazon....

    You honestly don't see BOTH of those as harmful?

    --
    It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @03:21PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @03:21PM (#458956)

    It's probably a moot point as you just report the charge as the unauthorized it is to the credit card issuer if Amazon refuses to pay for the return shipping. Despite whatever bullshit they might have in their terms of service, saying something in the presence of one of these devices does not represent a contractual obligation as evidenced by the doll house incident. A child that age cannot enter into a legal contract in any state I know of and even if they could, they're not generally authorized for using their parents' credit cards. At absolute bare minimum, Alexa should require affirmative confirmation before shipping things out to determine that there was the intent and consent to order something.

    As it stands now, my guess is that this will either last until the chargebacks start rolling in or they can convince congress to drastically lower the standards for forming contracts.

    But, IANAL and this is going to be interesting to see play out.