https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw Made with a wish on a star en-us 2019-04-24 15:41:26 UTC 2025-11-13 15:44:36 UTC hello@padlet.com chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/354167884 "It is outrageous that the Amazon Echo is recording every conversation in a person’s home and transmitting it to the cloud," Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., tweeted May 26. ]]> 2019-04-25 15:59:22 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/354167884 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/354170920 In one highly publicized incident, a Portland family’s Alexa captured a private conversation after the voice-controlled device misheard what it thought was the wake word. It later sent the audio recording to someone in Seattle whose number was stored in the family’s contact list. ]]> 2019-04-25 16:05:51 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/354170920 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/354171404 Khanna said, "Amazon Echo is recording every conversation in a person's home and transmitting it to the cloud."

]]> 2019-04-25 16:06:56 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/354171404 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/354171636 Amazon’s Alexa technology is designed to capture voice data only after a specific voice command, called a wake word, triggers a recording mechanism.]]> 2019-04-25 16:07:19 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/354171636 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355688464 Once the stuff of science fiction, voice-activated virtual assistants like the Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple HomePod now reside in millions of American homes, tweaking thermostats, streaming music and scheduling appointments.]]> 2019-05-01 03:07:16 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355688464 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355688510 While some see these devices as helping hands, others view them as Trojan horses in the age of digital surveillance.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:07:37 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355688510 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355688579 The devices constantly listen for a user to say a "wake word," which triggers Alexa to begin recording voice data and respond to commands. Wake words include "Alexa," "O.K. Google," and "Hey Siri."]]> 2019-05-01 03:08:03 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355688579 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355688733 At least one of them starts recording, randomly, at least once per week," he wrote. 

]]> 2019-05-01 03:09:08 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355688733 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692309 "It happens when they pick up a sound from the TV, or a stray bit of conversation that sounds enough like one of their wake words."

]]> 2019-05-01 03:48:07 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692309 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692410 Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like 'Alexa.' Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a ‘send message’ request. At which point, Alexa said out loud 'To whom?' At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customer’s contact list.]]> 2019-05-01 03:49:09 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692410 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692467 You would be forgiven for thinking that your private conversations were just that, but two leading voice assistants are listening to everything you say, a new report claims.]]> 2019-05-01 03:49:44 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692467 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692538 In fact, the devices listen all the time they are turned on – and Amazon has envisioned Alexa using that information to build profiles on anyone in the room to sell them goods.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:50:25 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692538 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692622 A written transcript of the conversation said: ‘If you ever get booked down to my house for some reason the key safe for the back door is 0783.’]]> 2019-05-01 03:51:29 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692622 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692704 Google and Amazon appear most interested in using the data they get by snooping on your daily life to target advertising, Consumer Watchdog said.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:52:32 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692704 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692765 ‘Instead of charging you for these surveillance devices, Google and Amazon should be paying you to take one into your home.’ 

]]> 2019-05-01 03:53:27 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692765 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692778 ‘You might find them useful sometimes, but think about what you’re revealing about yourself and your family, and how that information might be used in the future.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:53:40 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692778 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692814 Amazon filed a patent application for an algorithm that would let future versions of the device identify statements of interest, such as ‘I love skiing’, enabling the speaker to be monitored based on their interests and targeted for related advertising.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:54:09 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692814 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692834 In fact, the devices listen all the time they are turned on – and Amazon has envisioned Alexa using that information to build profiles on anyone in the room to sell them goods.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:54:27 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692834 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692861 A Google patent application describes using a future release of it smart Home system to monitor and control everything from screen time and hygiene habits, to meal and travel schedules and other activities.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:54:47 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692861 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692901 Law enforcement is already seeking information from smart devices. 

]]> 2019-05-01 03:55:20 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692901 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692946 As secret recordings go, the Portland couple's conversation was pretty mundane: They were talking about hardwood floors.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:55:58 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692946 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692961 The wife, identified only as Danielle, told Seattle TV station KIRO 7 that they learned something was amiss when they received a phone call from the husband's employee who lived in Seattle, telling them what he had inadvertently received. He told them to unplug their Alexa devices right away.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:56:16 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355692961 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693022 The employee sent the couple the sound file that the Echo had sent to him, and they were shocked to realize they had essentially been bugged.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:57:00 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693022 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693052 at least five times in a row, Alexa heard background conversation and misconstrued it as very specific directives. And it all happened without the people in the room knowing that the device was listening, much less recording their conversation and shipping it out, supposedly on their behalf.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:57:20 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693052 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693097 Last year, a North Carolina man said the same thing had happened to him: His Echo recorded 20 seconds of his conversation and sent it to his insurance agent without his knowledge.

]]> 2019-05-01 03:57:49 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693097 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693136 Amazon's Echo uses seven microphones and noise-canceling tech to listen out for its wake word," Washington Post technology columnist Geoffrey Fowler explains.]]> 2019-05-01 03:58:12 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693136 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693162 Doing so, it records about a second of ambient sound on the device, which it constantly discards and replaces. But once it thinks it hears its wake word, the Echo's blue light ring activates and it begins sending a recording of what it hears to Amazon's computers."]]> 2019-05-01 03:58:27 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693162 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693219 There was the time an Echo ordered a $170 dollhouse for a 6-year-old who asked Alexa for one.]]> 2019-05-01 03:59:09 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693219 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693247 And the time Burger King ran an ad that said, "OK Google, what is the Whopper burger?"]]> 2019-05-01 03:59:28 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693247 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693299 NPR's own reporting has spurred voice-activated snafus: Morning Edition ran a story in 2016 about the Echo, which included the phrases "Alexa, give me a news bulletin" and "Alexa, turn on CNN. Set the temperature to 70 degrees." Some Echos at home complied — by playing an NPR newscast and resetting a listener's thermostat.]]> 2019-05-01 03:59:55 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355693299 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355698755 https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/may/31/ro-khanna/your-amazon-alexa-spying-you/]]> 2019-05-01 05:00:42 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355698755 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355698769 https://www.consumerwatchdog.org/privacy-technology/how-google-and-amazon-are-spying-you]]> 2019-05-01 05:00:55 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355698769 chandler_pruitt https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355698785 https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/25/614470096/amazon-echo-recorded-and-sent-couples-conversation-all-without-their-knowledge]]> 2019-05-01 05:01:09 UTC https://padlet.com/chandler_pruitt/wxx0j7h8zqpw/wish/355698785