SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
When fast food company Burger King attempted to trigger Google Assistant/Google Home by including "OK, Google" in an advertisement, Google moved to block its software from responding. But The Inquirer reports that rogue editors on Wikipedia played a prank on the advertiser:
[...] Burger King forgot that Google draws that kind of information from Wikipedia. And anyone can edit Wikipedia.
Soon, Wikipedia and therefore Google was telling all and sundry that the Whopper was made with "cyanide" "toenail clippings" and "rat meat". It also said that it is "the worst hamburger product" [...]
However, according to The Verge, the restauranteur appears to have inserted its desired text into Wikipedia prior to the broadcast:
For almost a decade, Wikipedia's page for the Whopper began with more or less the same sentence: "The Whopper sandwich is the signature hamburger product sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's."
[...]
But last week, that first line — the only line that Google Home reads — was changed to: "The Whopper is a burger, consisting of a flame-grilled patty made with 100 percent beef with no preservatives or fillers, topped with sliced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, ketchup, and mayonnaise, served on a sesame-seed bun." That certainly sounds like ad copy.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday April 16 2017, @05:24AM (2 children)
With any luck, this leads to a whole bunch of unscrupulous ad agencies (but I repeat myself...) trying this, until it becomes a logical-DDoS against the entire stupid fucking "digital assistant" cohort and people either 1) lock them down and secure them or 2) throw them away and never ever use them again.
In a way, a horrible roundabout completely unintended way, BK may be doing the world a service here.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @07:23AM (1 child)
I think it more likely that televisions will incorporate filtering on their output.
You can't "lock" these down in a meaningful way that doesn't kill usability and speech control is just too convenient to ever go back in the bottle.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday April 16 2017, @04:42PM
Then Amazon, Google, etc should implement something like a car's key fob where you press a button to activate the thing briefly. No "learning" your voice because that means the data is getting sent back to the mothership.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...