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from the Alexa,-order-two-tons-of-creamed-corn.-Alexa-confirm-order dept.
Gizmodo has an article up that The Amazon Alexa Eavesdropping Nightmare Came True
A German Amazon user requested data about his personal activities under the EU's General Data Protection (GDP) regulation.
This individual owned no Alexa devices, but still received over 1700 recordings of what were purportedly his commands.
Some of the files reportedly related to his Amazon searches. But according to the report there were also hundreds of Wav files and a PDF cataloging transcripts of Alexa’s interpretations of voice commands. According to c’t magazine
The recordings revealed the victims’ personal habits, jobs, taste in music, schedule, alarms, social life, and even caught him showering.
The recordings were not of the recipient's voice nor anyone he recognized. When he contacted Amazon, he received no response (other than the link to the file going dead). He then contacted C't Magazine.
Using the information they gathered from the recordings, the magazine contacted the victim of the data leak. He “was audibly shocked,” and confirmed it was him in the recordings and that the outlet had figured out the identity of his girlfriend. He said Amazon did not contact him.
When asked for comment by Gizmodo
Amazon sent Gizmodo the same statement it had shared with Reuters. “This was an unfortunate case of human error and an isolated incident. We have resolved the issue with the two customers involved and have taken steps to further improve our processes. We were also in touch on a precautionary basis with the relevant regulatory authorities.”
While not a common type of mistake, inappropriate sharing of conversations and recording is also hardly unheard of. For example a Portland woman found her Echo had sent a recorded conversation between her and her husband to one of his employees.
As a reminder, you can delete your Amazon Echo recorded history or just parts of it should you wish to do so, as described here.
(Score: -1) by fakefuck39 on Monday December 24 2018, @03:59AM (3 children)
yeah, I don't understand someone who can be so dumb as not to understand the usefullness of a smart speaker. i just have a home mini. here are some use cases, for people who think being dense is so cool they pretend to be:
1: I lay down in bed, realize I forgot to turn off the living room tv. "hey google, eteignez la tele salle" - yes, I practice other languages with it.
2: "play pink martini radio on bedroom speaker"
yeah, I could get up, go into the living room, turn on the lights, and turn off the tv. then come back to bed, and stay up for another half an hour because my falling asleep was interrupted.
yeah, I could find my phone, connect it to the bt speaker, switch the the output from bt headset to speaker, then go on youtube, type pink martini, click on play mix. or, I can just ask it to play.
what is it you're not getting here sherlock? are you seriously this much of an idiot. What privacy is being violated? It hears me fuck and builds a profile on a username? I don't care.
Now if you are a loser in life, like you are - a dumb loser, who needs an ego boost to not take a bottle of sleeping pills - then you think your "privacy" that it records is super important. It helps you feel important. Society - we don't know you exist, an no one here or at google gives a fuck about some ugly fat loser. Don't get one if you don't want to. But the dumb one here - that's you.
simplest solution for you. take that bottle of pills. just do it. it'll solve your dumb issue.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 24 2018, @04:31AM
This will be good for you.
It can suggest and auto order a new fleshlight when you wear it out
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 24 2018, @10:34PM (1 child)
Well composed, Amazon droidslave. Getting up - to turn the light off, hook up your phone for music - might save you from a couch-potato health problem in 15 years time. "I have nothing to hide" is no excuse at all and has been debunked to heck already.
(Score: -1) by fakefuck39 on Monday December 31 2018, @08:02AM
it's linked to its own google account. I don't have google's android on my pixel - i can't order anything from it. but then again, you're the one making up that use case - aren't you.
I guess when you're a fat internet conspiracy theorist, you count on getting up from the bed to turn off the tv in the next room as a workout. Here, in the world outside, the world that deemed you ugly in the face and body and rejected you from society, we lift weights to save ourselves from future health problems. And to punch you in the face. And to stuff you into a locker, if you remember your highschool years.
I don't need an excuse to not fight your crusades. My life is more convenient, you don't have a life - you have a waste of space and a collection of porn.