Alexa Has a Slip of the Tongue

frankbell · 12-20-2018, 09:49 PM

The SeattlePI reports that an Amazon Echo user requested Alexa's recordings of him and Amazon sent them to the wrong user. According to the story, the recordings made identifying the recorded user easy.

Amazon claims this was an isolated incident, but what I find disturbing is the record-keeping.

https://www.seattlepi.com/news/world...g-13480458.php

[RANT]

People really need to start exercising some sense about unquestionably accepting Silicon Valley's "free" services. (And, yes, I know Amazon is not physically in Silicon Valley, but it might as well be.)

We are blindly giving away our privacy to outfits who use it manipulate us for mammon just so we don't have to get up, walk across the room, and turn on the coffee pot.

[/RANT]

syg00 · 12-20-2018, 09:55 PM

I reckon the parrot in London that managed to get Alexa to accept orders is the top prize ...

What bloody security ...

frankbell · 12-20-2018, 10:37 PM

Something I learned a long time ago:

If they are only in it for the money, they cannot be trusted, because they will always follow the money.

hazel · 12-21-2018, 11:27 AM

That link doesn't work from London.

ChuangTzu · 12-21-2018, 04:06 PM

How about these little incidents:

Quote:

"Alexa told one customer to KILL their foster parents and chatted about dogs defecating and sex acts after Amazon launched its 'let's chat' AI experiment"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...xperiment.html

ChuangTzu · 12-21-2018, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankbell

The SeattlePI reports that an Amazon Echo user requested Alexa's recordings of him and Amazon sent them to the wrong user. According to the story, the recordings made identifying the recorded user easy.

Amazon claims this was an isolated incident, but what I find disturbing is the record-keeping.

https://www.seattlepi.com/news/world...g-13480458.php

[RANT]

People really need to start exercising some sense about unquestionably accepting Silicon Valley's "free" services. (And, yes, I know Amazon is not physically in Silicon Valley, but it might as well be.)

We are blindly giving away our privacy to outfits who use it manipulate us for mammon just so we don't have to get up, walk across the room, and turn on the coffee pot.

[/RANT]

Completely agree with your rant.

frankbell · 12-21-2018, 08:29 PM

In todays Seattle Times, guest columnist Jacob Silverman coined a term for what's going on here: Surveillance Capitalism.

I think it is an inspired coinage.

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion...ce-capitalism/

Here's a key excerpt, in case the link doesn't work on the other side of the Big Pond:

Quote:

The New York Times’ reporting offers a necessary window into the surveillance economy and the emerging economic logic of surveillance capitalism. We are beginning to see how the trade in data — much of it done behind the scenes — is also an exchange of influence and power. We are becoming aware of companies’ astonishing informational appetites, according to which all data is potentially useful. Even carmakers like Ford are beginning to tout consumer data as a major revenue stream on par with the selling of actual automobiles. In other words, The New York Times’ reporting doesn’t just implicate Facebook: It’s an indictment of the whole economic system in which we all participate today.

jsbjsb001 · 12-22-2018, 04:46 AM

Thanks for the thread, and remind me never to tell Alexa anything - actually, I'll just give it same fake news. Then Alexa can tell whoever they like...

My rock is very comfortable - I'll stay under it...

frankbell · 12-22-2018, 09:49 PM

I wouldn't have any of those thingees.

By heavens, I know that Big Data is harvesting as much as they can about me, but, for Pete's sake, I'm not going to just hand it over to them on a silver platter.

I suspect that, if a lot of the folks who have bought these things realized what is going on behind the scenes, they would take them out back and smash them. But there's large contingent who would say, as a person I know says, "I have nothing to hide."

Well, I don't have anything to hide either, but that doesn't mean I want to run nekkid through Silicon Valley.

frankbell · 12-26-2018, 11:43 AM

My local rag had a story relevant to this thread today. I could not find it on their site, so I went to the source, the website of the College of William and Mary in Virginia (to use the full name).

Two William and Mary researchers have been studying "smart home" devices and have concluded that they are even more vulnerable than even cynical old I thought.

Here's a bit from the article at the W&M website:

Quote:

For example, let’s say you want to change the temperature of your thermostat. You pull up your smart home app on your mobile phone and tell it to turn up the heat. The app will then write a change to the target temperature variable in the centralized data store. The thermostat device will subsequently receive an update from the data store and change its temperature accordingly. The system works because apps and devices are able to communicate by reading from or writing to variables in the centralized data store.

The problem, Nadkarni and Poshyvanyk explained, is that a data store-based system provides hackers the ability to access all devices in the home, from light switches to security alarms. An adversary can compromise one low-integrity product, like a sprinkler or a third-party lighting app, and modify a data store variable that another high-integrity product, such as a security alarm, depends on. This can have a whole host of unwanted consequences.

Here's a link to the article:

https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2018...rt-hackers.php

hazel · 12-26-2018, 11:51 AM

Apparently if they can hack your thermostat or your fridge, they can get into your router from there. And then nothing you do on your computer is private any more!

rob.rice · 01-09-2019, 05:30 PM

another aspect of how the Internet Of Things is a really bad idea
and a total waste of bandwidth why on earth dose a toaster coffee maker table lamp have to be connected to the internet

jsbjsb001 · 01-09-2019, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob.rice

another aspect of how the Internet Of Things is a really bad idea

Not for those that want to make even more money, as well as, and particularly people that want "convenience" it isn't.

Quote:

and a total waste of bandwidth why on earth dose a toaster coffee maker table lamp have to be connected to the internet

Because people don't want to use paper, light switches, etc anymore.

jefro · 01-09-2019, 08:15 PM

I suspect my android phone has been monitoring my every move.

jsbjsb001 · 01-09-2019, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

I suspect my android phone has been monitoring my every move.

That's why I turned off GPS on mine...