How do you get comfy with Echo/Dot or Google Home "listening" devices?

[mmsmom]

This quote from this previously linked article... article: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-...vacy-concerns/

Quote:
Asked how this differs from what Google already does with people's search data, Thompson said, "Because we're used to it."

"We don't really understand that what we're saying goes into a machine and then gets sent to Amazon and gets chopped up and parsed and sent to all these other places. We know it when we type, we don't know it when we speak."

All of this data collection is already happening and I don’t think the average person can operate in an environment with computers and smart phones where your searches and purchases and other information is not tracked. As the quote says, Echo and other devices are not really capturing anything new; it’s just a different method.

[Jeanne]

These devices are also sold in other stores and online. You can buy them from QVC. Selling in those markets captures people who aren't shopping mostly online or even phone or computer dependent.

[squimp]

All of this data collection is already happening and I don’t think the average person can operate in an environment with computers and smart phones where your searches and purchases and other information is not tracked. As the quote says, Echo and other devices are not really capturing anything new; it’s just a different method.

I don't agree with this at all. My private conversations with my family are very different than what I post online. I just really am not comfortable with something recording my conversations. It just makes me really uncomfortable.

[anonomom]

We don't have any of these devices, and I won't be getting one soon. Not only am I worried about personal privacy, I worry a lot about where we're going as a country with regard to privacy rights. So many of our protections under, say, the 4th amendment, are related to a "reasonable expectation of privacy," and when the societal norm becomes that we allow (and welcome!) surveillance devices into our homes, I worry that we're going to lose that expectation that our homes are private places.

No, I don't have anything to hide. As far as I know, I'm not committing any crimes. But that's not really the point. There's a larger public policy at stake.

[o_mom]

We don't have any of these devices, and I won't be getting one soon. Not only am I worried about personal privacy, I worry a lot about where we're going as a country with regard to privacy rights. So many of our protections under, say, the 4th amendment, are related to a "reasonable expectation of privacy," and when the societal norm becomes that we allow (and welcome!) surveillance devices into our homes, I worry that we're going to lose that expectation that our homes are private places.

No, I don't have anything to hide. As far as I know, I'm not committing any crimes. But that's not really the point. There's a larger public policy at stake.

I agree. I think comments that if you are doing nothing wrong, you shouldn't be worried are very 1984-ish.

[legaleagle]

DH is a computer guy who has worked in among other fields, IOT (internet of things), DOD security & telecom - he is vehemently against anything like this whatsoever. IOT is notoriously hackable and the law has definitely not caught up.

[Jeanne]

We don't have any of these devices, and I won't be getting one soon. Not only am I worried about personal privacy, I worry a lot about where we're going as a country with regard to privacy rights. So many of our protections under, say, the 4th amendment, are related to a "reasonable expectation of privacy," and when the societal norm becomes that we allow (and welcome!) surveillance devices into our homes, I worry that we're going to lose that expectation that our homes are private places.

No, I don't have anything to hide. As far as I know, I'm not committing any crimes. But that's not really the point. There's a larger public policy at stake.

Exactly. I'm really disappointed that Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg all but disappeared after writing her book about privacy. I was hoping she was going to really champion this issue but she hasn't. It's sorely needed as are laws governing the ethics of big data.

[Jeanne]

DH is a computer guy who has worked in among other fields, IOT (internet of things), DOD security & telecom - he is vehemently against anything like this whatsoever. IOT is notoriously hackable and the law has definitely not caught up.

I am your DH who is currently. And me too. Like I said above, no professional with real experience in this theater would ever be so flippant about privacy and data. If the election has taught us anything, it's this.

[legaleagle]

I am your DH who is currently. And me too. Like I said above, no professional with real experience in this theater would ever be so flippant about privacy and data. If the election has taught us anything, it's this.

Jeanne - check out the internet of sh*t twitter account if you haven't seen it before, very amusing/disturbing (hackable pacemakers!)