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posted by on Thursday December 29 2016, @01:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-always-there-always-listening dept.

Several SoylentNews readers have submitted this story:

Amazon Echo is a voice-activated and cloud-connected speaker device that actively listens to a room using several microphones and communicates with Amazon servers to perform various queries and tasks.

Warrant Filed for Amazon Echo Records in Arkansas Murder Case

Arkansas police filed what is believed to be the first request to retrieve information from an Amazon Echo device in a homicide investigation.

[...] Authorities charged Bates, 31, with murder earlier this year, but police in the Ozark city are now looking to find evidence on his Echo, according to The Information [paywalled].

[...] Amazon twice refused to hand over information requested by police, according to The Information, but gave them Bates' account information and purchase history.

The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it "will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us."

[Continues...]

US Police Request Amazon Echo Data in Murder Case - Amazon Says No

US police have issued Amazon with two search warrants which they have refused. More info is available from the BBC.

Difficult one this. I wouldn't have a device like the Echo in my home. But I can understand why people would want the device. Should have Amazon given up the data on request?

Editor's note: Also at Engadget, USA Today, and The Verge.


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2Original Submission #3Original Submission #4

Related Stories

News Anchor Sets Off Alexa Devices Around San Diego Ordering Unwanted Dollhouses 20 comments

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


Original Submission

Amazon Continues to Resist Requests for "Alexa" Audio Evidence in Arkansas Murder Case 5 comments

Amazon is balking at a search warrant seeking cloud-stored data from its Alexa Voice Service. Arkansas authorities want to examine the recorded voice and transcription data as part of a murder investigation. Among other things, the Seattle company claims that the recorded data from an Amazon Echo near a murder scene is protected by the First Amendment, as are the responses from the voice assistant itself.

Amazon said that the Bentonville Police Department is essentially going on a fishing expedition with a warrant that could chill speech and even the market for Echo devices and competing products. In a motion to quash the subpoena, the company said that because of the constitutional concerns at issue, the authorities need to demonstrate a "compelling need" for the information and must exhaust other avenues to acquire that data.

[...] According to the warrant, Bentonville authorities are seeking "audio recordings, transcribed records, or other text records related to communications and transactions" between the Echo device and Amazon's servers during the 48-hour period covering November 21-22, 2015. Amazon said the authorities should, at a minimum, establish "a heightened showing of relevance and need for any recordings" before a judge allows the search.

[...] The warrant at issue concerns the 2015 death of former Georgia police officer Victor Collins. He was found dead in a hot tub at the Bentonville home of Bates, who claimed the death was an accidental drowning. Arkansas police believe Bates died after a struggle. They suspect that the Amazon Echo they found streaming music near the hot tub may help solve the case.

Source: ArsTechnica. Also at BBC and TechCrunch.

Previously: Police Seek Amazon Echo Data in Murder Case


Original Submission

Can Amazon Echo Help Solve a Murder? Police Will Soon Find Out. 13 comments

A 2015 Arkansas murder case that had raised privacy questions surrounding "always-on" electronic home devices took a step forward last week after Amazon agreed to release recordings from the murder defendant's Amazon Echo as possible evidence.

The Seattle-based e-commerce company had refused to comply with police warrants requesting the data in December and sought to quash a search warrant in February, court records showed. Although the company would not comment on this specific case, an Amazon spokeswoman told The Washington Post in December that it objected to "overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course."

That changed after the defendant, James Andrew Bates, agreed Friday to allow Amazon to release data from his Echo device to prosecutors. The company turned over the recordings later that day, according to court records.

"Because Mr. Bates is innocent of all charges in this matter, he has agreed to the release of any recordings on his Amazon Echo device to the prosecution," attorneys Kathleen Zellner and Douglas Johnson said in a statement to The Washington Post.

-- submitted from IRC

Previously: Police Seek Amazon Echo Data in Murder Case and Amazon Continues to Resist Requests for "Alexa" Audio Evidence in Arkansas Murder Case


Original Submission

Amazon.com Eyes Fashion with Echo Look 12 comments

CNNMoney reports on the introduction of the new Echo Look, which features a

[...] camera that lets you take full-body photos and videos to collect and compare outfits. Echo Look does everything the Amazon Echo speaker does -- like read the news and weather -- but it can now tell you what to wear.

[...] It is powered by both machine-learning technology and human opinion. An Amazon spokesperson said the automated results consider "fit, color, styling, seasons and current trends."

The new device is, according to the company's product page, "available exclusively by invitation."

Additional coverage:

Related stories:
News Anchor Sets Off Alexa Devices Around San Diego Ordering Unwanted Dollhouses
Police Seek Amazon Echo Data in Murder Case
Is Alexa AI In Your Future?
Amazon Said to Plan Music-Streaming Service for its Echo Speaker


Original Submission

Charges Dropped in Case of Murder Suspect Who Owned an Amazon Echo 8 comments

The case against James Bates, an Arkansas man and Amazon Echo owner charged with first-degree murder, has been dropped by prosecutors:

Arkansas prosecutors have dropped their case against James Bates, whom they had charged with first-degree murder partly with the help of evidence collected by an Amazon Echo smart speaker. On Wednesday, a circuit court judge granted their request to have the charges of murder and tampering with evidence dismissed.

The prosecutors declared nolle prosequi, stating that the evidence could support more than one reasonable explanation.

The move marks a curious end to a still more curious case, which had revolved around the role played by a personal assistant device that's supposed to begin recording as soon as someone says its wake word — "Alexa," in this case — in its presence.

Previously: Police Seek Amazon Echo Data in Murder Case
Amazon Continues to Resist Requests for "Alexa" Audio Evidence in Arkansas Murder Case
Can Amazon Echo Help Solve a Murder? Police Will Soon Find Out.

Related: Law Enforcement Has Been Using OnStar, SiriusXM, to Eavesdrop, Track Car Locations


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Thursday December 29 2016, @01:41PM

    by LoRdTAW (3755) on Thursday December 29 2016, @01:41PM (#447067) Journal

    Well, when you advertise your device as "always on, always listening", expect these kinds of requests. I will never own one.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @01:44PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @01:44PM (#447068)

    Marry Alexa and claim spousal privilege.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @02:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @02:07PM (#447074)

    You know some of us aren't exactly hip to all the new wonderful crap.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by nobu_the_bard on Thursday December 29 2016, @03:11PM

      by nobu_the_bard (6373) on Thursday December 29 2016, @03:11PM (#447089)

      It's a "smart house" toy sort of thing. It consists of a speaker and microphone built into a cylinder-shaped thing that link up to Amazon's cloud via the internet.

      You can give it spoken commands and it can respond to questions (like asking for the weather), order stuff from amazon (except for certain categories of high-demand items like shoes), play music, and some other stuff. If you have "smart house" stuff like thermostats and lights it can control, you can link those up, so you can give it orders like "turn the lights down".

      That should be enough to get what it is, more or less.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @03:29PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @03:29PM (#447095)

      What it is?

      It's a variation on the Soviet theme of microconcrete. Concrete with microphones in it. There are a few innovations this time around. The Soviet State paid for the construction of housing for foreign visitors, that had microconcrete panels built-in. The devices were tastefully hidden a centimeter or so behind the surface and powered by an external RF source usually. They had no internet uplink, and there had to be a room full of recording equipment nearby to store voice data. Transcription was done by paid employees, earning a living wage.

      This time, you pay for the device, you pay for electricity it consumes, you must connect it yourself to the internet. A program on servers far away transcribes the voice into text and extracts meaning, intention and emotional levels, maybe. Don't know for sure, the source code is not available for review. If the device breaks after its warranty runs out, you have to buy a new one. Funnily enough, if one talks to Echo/Cortana/Siri, it actually answers, much unlike the KGB operatives! This is marketed as the products main feature.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:20PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:20PM (#447111) Journal

      Sorry about that. I put some more explanation in the summary.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @06:10PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @06:10PM (#447520)

        Thank you for this as well as all the hard work you put in for Soy.

    • (Score: 2) by Anne Nonymous on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:55PM

      by Anne Nonymous (712) on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:55PM (#447128)

      You know some of us aren't exactly hip to all the new wonderful crap.  

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Thursday December 29 2016, @02:36PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Thursday December 29 2016, @02:36PM (#447080)

    I'm a big believer in privacy, but with a valid warrant, they should hand over the information if they have it. Giving anyone the information *without* a warrant should be a serious offence. Note that giving police the information does not include breaking their own encryption or installing backdoors.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday December 29 2016, @02:49PM

      by TheGratefulNet (659) on Thursday December 29 2016, @02:49PM (#447083)

      warrants are often rubberstamped, so I don't RESPECT warrants as much as you seem to.

      to me, its just a case of The Man demanding that you comply. and I HATE TO COMPLY with anyone who takes that strong an attitude with me.

      as for the echo, it will be a cold day in hell before I own one of those things, or anything like it. shit creeps me out.

      star trek is a fantasy where you talk to computers. and star trek never had the social problems and authority abuse problems we are rife with, now. if authority was not always so power-grabby, maybe we COULD have 'nice things' in this world, but we just can't - because....reasons.

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
      • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Thursday December 29 2016, @02:57PM

        by Nerdfest (80) on Thursday December 29 2016, @02:57PM (#447087)

        I think that's a separate problem to fix though. I think warrants are an important tool of law enforcement, but yes, there must be some thought put into them being granted.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by bziman on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:12PM

        by bziman (3577) on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:12PM (#447108)

        star trek is a fantasy where you talk to computers. and star trek never had the social problems and authority abuse problems we are rife with

        Um, the whole plot of Star Trek VI revolved around the trial of Kirk where the key evidence was a copy of a recording from his personal logs.

        In the Trek universe, the 21st century was filled with race wars and nuclear annihilation. The society that emerged was out of necessity. I'm not holding out much hope of that for the real world, but sheesh, get your Trek right.

        • (Score: 4, Funny) by edIII on Thursday December 29 2016, @07:57PM

          by edIII (791) on Thursday December 29 2016, @07:57PM (#447178)

          You may need to get your Trek right.

          Personal logs weren't something I think every single citizen was using, but something found on space ships. That makes sense when some really hairy shit can happen in space and you *need* something like that. Accessing a personal log required authority, like say, from command or medical. There had to be imminent danger to the ship, or that person, to access those logs. That's why they were there in the first place because you never know what information is going to help exploring the unknown.

          Socially, the Trek world was far more advanced. Even though command could open up personal logs, do you really suspect Captain Jean-Luc Picard of rifling through underlings personal and private communications? The people in charge were simply better people and far more trustworthy with your privacy. Somebody violating privacy in the 24th century would lose the trust of others, not be fucking rewarded like it is in the 21st. It would be well outside the norms of acceptable behavior.

          Finally, it *WASN'T* the Federation that accessed and provided those logs. Kirk surrendered the ship to prevent a diplomatic incident and the Klingons took whatever they needed under their laws while in possession of the ship. While it's never mentioned that much, a foreign power was actually in possession of the Enterprise and its technology for just a little while.

          In keeping with theme here, Amazon is the fucking Ferengi. Of course they want their big fucking ears everywhere listening to everything. Probably a Rule of Acquisition. Since their only motivation is profit, I'm going to roast in Hell before I completely and utterly give up my privacy to a private corporation literally filled with Ferengi.

          --
          Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
  • (Score: 2) by DonkeyChan on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:28PM

    by DonkeyChan (5551) on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:28PM (#447113)

    There's a key component of this statement that's important

    The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it "will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us."

    We'd never even HEAR about an NSL reaching them. They'd quietly comply, A parallel construction would occur to hide the fact, and the government would just keep on shooting out broad NSL's reaping millions of users regular conversation for "evidence".

    • (Score: 2) by jcross on Thursday December 29 2016, @05:15PM

      by jcross (4009) on Thursday December 29 2016, @05:15PM (#447135)

      Yes and I'm sure Amazon would vastly prefer it that way. If the information goes through the transparent legal process, it can only be bad for Amazon, because after all the government are not the ones paying for the product and service, and many of the actual customers will be spooked to find that private conversations in their own homes are not so private. They should love the muzzle built into the NSL, because it allows them to pretend that they would have been upstanding and transparent if left to their own devices.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by jmorris on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:51PM

    by jmorris (4844) on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:51PM (#447125)

    Only a couple of weeks ago I foretold the first time the records from one of these got sucked up in a court order these things were bound for a land fill. Because everyone here at least should realize these things are ALWAYS listening and ALWAYS connected to the cloud. Will Amazon be content to only capture what you are saying when you directly address it when they can be keyword sniffing 24/7? Of course not! Have they started doing it yet? Who knows, but yet is they keyword. Samsung already got caught doing it, they can't help themselves with that much potential information just waiting for the order to collect it.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @01:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @01:57PM (#447412)

      What isn't clear is exactly how the devices work. It would be incredibly wasteful of resources and basically stupid if these devices recorded and stored everything they hear. They listen for their phrases to wake up "Alexa", "Ok Google", etc., so you essentially need to run a DSP matched filter on the data without doing any voice recognition. Once you get the wakeup command, then you record what you hear and push it through the voice recognition algorithms.

    • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday December 30 2016, @03:21PM

      by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 30 2016, @03:21PM (#447454) Homepage Journal

      Samsung only sent information to the cloud when necessary to satisfy customer requests. Specifically, the TV sent search terms upstream to carry out customer's searches, and sent voice upstream only when in voice recognition mode so that Samsung's servers could do the voice recognition.

      While I'd be surprised if the Samsung televisions were unhackable, I've seen zero actual evidence that Samsung ever received any more data than this.

      -- hendrik

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday December 29 2016, @06:57PM

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday December 29 2016, @06:57PM (#447169) Journal

    And this is why I am never, ever going to allow anything like this in my living space. Combined with the much-abused "third party" doctrine this is corrupt, lazy law enforcement's wet dream and everyone else's nightmare. Orwell never expected, when he wrote 1984, that we would be buying telescreens, rather than having them forced on us.

    Fuck this. If there ever was a case of velvet chains this is it.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2) by Zinho on Thursday December 29 2016, @10:44PM

      by Zinho (759) on Thursday December 29 2016, @10:44PM (#447218)

      Funny, that's nearly verbatim the talk I give people when they ask why I don't own an XBox with Kinect...

      +1 insightful for you.

      --
      "Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin