Alexa, a new member of our family

[tanglewood]

Took delivery of my Amazon Echo today. Just amazing. Anyone else here got one?

What's strange is that the whole family is already treating Alexa like a new family member. We can't be rude to her, we don't interrupt her, and commanding her to shut up just feels plain wrong. When I keep asking Alexa questions the kids get uncomfortable and ask me to give "her" a rest!

So clever it's frightening.


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[gaz]

So clever it's frightening.

warning: adult language
[youtube]m2eTZV74HTs[/youtube]

[Threevok]

I'm all for modern advances el al.

However, I can just imagine this thing blurting out - in the middle of a dinner party "you are running low on pile cream"

[Psamathe]

I'm not keen to have an internet connected device always listening to everything going on.

And once the magic word is uttered and what you say is passed to Amazon servers, how long to they store your conversations for ? Which agencies can legally ask for those conversations ? How much after the magic word is transmitted (minutes, hours) ?

Under UK Snoopers Charter I assume the Amazon are obliged to modify their devices to always listen and send should they be told to do so (and of course they would not be able to tell you about that)? Any "Warrant Canaries" ? And GCHQ seem to love collecting everything from everybody and with so many now allowed to view that collected data (so you could have all your intimate conversations routed to e.g. the Food Standards Agency or the Health and Safety Executive, etc. And if GCHQ can do it, why not hackers (we've already seen hackers start messing with people's internet controlled Slow Cookers (oh the wonder of the IoT).

Ian

[tanglewood]

I'm not keen to have an internet connected device always listening to everything going on.

And once the magic word is uttered and what you say is passed to Amazon servers, how long to they store your conversations for ? Which agencies can legally ask for those conversations ? How much after the magic word is transmitted (minutes, hours) ?

Under UK Snoopers Charter I assume the Amazon are obliged to modify their devices to always listen and send should they be told to do so (and of course they would not be able to tell you about that)? Any "Warrant Canaries" ? And GCHQ seem to love collecting everything from everybody and with so many now allowed to view that collected data (so you could have all your intimate conversations routed to e.g. the Food Standards Agency or the Health and Safety Executive, etc. And if GCHQ can do it, why not hackers (we've already seen hackers start messing with people's internet controlled Slow Cookers (oh the wonder of the IoT).

Ian

You're not wearing a tin foil hat are you?


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[bovlomov]

You're not wearing a tin foil hat are you?

You haven't heard of Edward Snowden, have you? He showed that we tinfoil hat wearers have good reasons for that choice of headgear.

[mercalia]

CAYLA CAYLA CAYLA CAYLA

will Alexa ALSO open the door or spy on you that the German govt has banned her?

[Psamathe]

I'm not keen to have an internet connected device always listening to everything going on.

And once the magic word is uttered and what you say is passed to Amazon servers, how long to they store your conversations for ? Which agencies can legally ask for those conversations ? How much after the magic word is transmitted (minutes, hours) ?

Under UK Snoopers Charter I assume the Amazon are obliged to modify their devices to always listen and send should they be told to do so (and of course they would not be able to tell you about that)? Any "Warrant Canaries" ? And GCHQ seem to love collecting everything from everybody and with so many now allowed to view that collected data (so you could have all your intimate conversations routed to e.g. the Food Standards Agency or the Health and Safety Executive, etc. And if GCHQ can do it, why not hackers (we've already seen hackers start messing with people's internet controlled Slow Cookers (oh the wonder of the IoT).

Ian

You're not wearing a tin foil hat are you?
.....

Wearing something much better ... but I wont describe it as it's magic and will condemn this thread to some obscure abusive part of the forum. But it (your Amazon, not my hat) is listening to your every word ... and what better way is there for the Food Standards Agency to keep track of what everybody is doing. (Amazon have already been required by the US courts to hand-over records of what was going on in one US property and UK government can get that without it becoming public knowledge).

Ian

[tanglewood]

You're not wearing a tin foil hat are you?

You haven't heard of Edward Snowden, have you? He showed that we tinfoil hat wearers have good reasons for that choice of headgear.

Love it! "Alexa, add a reminder to bring down the western world. On Monday. Now time to Radio 2."


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[mercalia]

Took delivery of my Amazon Echo today. Just amazing. Anyone else here got one?

What's strange is that the whole family is already treating Alexa like a new family member. We can't be rude to her, we don't interrupt her, and commanding her to shut up just feels plain wrong. When I keep asking Alexa questions the kids get uncomfortable and ask me to give "her" a rest!

So clever it's frightening.


It's a composting toilet

yep you have it right Alexa is a composting toilet

clearly is Cayla's sister

https://www.thelocal.de/20170217/germany-bans-internet-connected-spy-doll-cayla

[tanglewood]

I'm not keen to have an internet connected device always listening to everything going on.

And once the magic word is uttered and what you say is passed to Amazon servers, how long to they store your conversations for ? Which agencies can legally ask for those conversations ? How much after the magic word is transmitted (minutes, hours) ?

Under UK Snoopers Charter I assume the Amazon are obliged to modify their devices to always listen and send should they be told to do so (and of course they would not be able to tell you about that)? Any "Warrant Canaries" ? And GCHQ seem to love collecting everything from everybody and with so many now allowed to view that collected data (so you could have all your intimate conversations routed to e.g. the Food Standards Agency or the Health and Safety Executive, etc. And if GCHQ can do it, why not hackers (we've already seen hackers start messing with people's internet controlled Slow Cookers (oh the wonder of the IoT).

Ian

You're not wearing a tin foil hat are you?
.....

Wearing something much better ... but I wont describe it as it's magic and will condemn this thread to some obscure abusive part of the forum. But it (your Amazon, not my hat) is listening to your every word ... and what better way is there for the Food Standards Agency to keep track of what everybody is doing. (Amazon have already been required by the US courts to hand-over records of what was going on in one US property and UK government can get that without it becoming public knowledge).

Ian

You wouldn't want a communications tool to be out of bounds to GCHQ (warrants, etc) because if that promise was delivered it would immediately attract all the bad guys.

When the first wave of bird flu threatened, some of us in government departments were summoned to Cabinet Office to discuss how we would be able to deal with a massive lethal spread. I did my bit about death registration and statistics that have a 1 month lag - not great. But the guy from GCHQ was fascinating. They were monitoring the pattern of coughs over the phone networks. Not the words, just the spikes in volume that a cough represents, and the space between them. Different flus have different cough patterns. They already had the pattern for bird flu coughs and had set alarms for when those patterns were spotted by their machines.

Really clever, and I was really pleased this sort of early warning was protecting us.



I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[Edwards]

Just imagine the real threat to your life and well being knowing your browser history and your more naughty discussions with your mates.

I mean the real person with power over you, your








wife/partner.

[[XAP]Bob]

Anyone accusing someone of tinfoil hat wearing needs to go and check what has already been asked of amazon wrt recovery of audio data from an echo.

It is a scary thought ...


The. Of course there is the question of what happens when someone on Eastenders gets one - a newsreader in the states has already ordered thousands of doll houses from people's echo devices which heard him on screen...

[Cunobelin]

I found Alexa incredibly boring compared to SIRI


"I am your father" on SIRI responds with a variety of Star Wars references, Alexa simply states it is impossible

Ask for "Talk like a Pirate Day" and there are some brilliant piratical responses on SIRI and "I don't understand" from Alexa

[tanglewood]

I use Siri only rarely, usually only to control music in the car hands free. The kids use Siri all the time, especially for their maths homework.

I can't yet put my finger on why Alexa has made a bigger impact for me - it just seems genuinely useful and instinctive in a way Siri just isn't yet.


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels