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...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @06:16AM
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
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
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.