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You used the systems I maintained. That's the difference. You wrote software. I had access to every byte stored in or transmitted through the main clearinghouse of the 3rd largest bank in California, and I wasn't even an employee. You're a consumer. I'm an administrator. Completely different mindset and if, after 20 years in the field, you don't get what that difference is, I won't be able to explain it to you. I don't care if you're impressed or not. It is what it is.
Being a software dev isn't impressive in and of itself and doesn't mean much at all in this discussion unless you were working on related tech. I ran the systems & network at a software development company for a decade. Software devs are just people. Some are smart. Some aren't. Most write bad code, and writing software doesn't automatically grant you a magical power to understand how information can be abused.
Heck, all we need to consider for proof of that fact is how many security issues there are with pretty much any piece of software. Most applications are written with security being an afterthought. If the developers understood the problem, their code would reflect it.
Back in the 80's and 90's the teams were bigger.
I wrote software to make it work.
Another team got that software and made it work better (Performance team)
Yet another team then got that software and made it secure (Security team).
But over the years...the cuts came and right before I left one coder was doing it all.
For banking software...it was black box development. I had my piece and passed it on but never got to see the entire system.
This sure is a lot of text that says absolutely nothing related to the topic.
Let me ask you a question: do you really believe that engineers that work in companies that produce these devices and software don't have smart phones or smart devices in their home? That is a yes or no question. Let's see how honest with yourself you can be.
Who do you think you are? Some amateur CD lawyer? You can't badger me into the corner that you want me in with your demand for a Yes/No answer. The answer is a common sense spectrum. Not a lot of people understand ML or AI and that applies to most people who work at Apple, AWS, Google, my own company and others. If it were simple then even you would be a practitioner, righto? Most people at Apple are aware of it but don't understand the process. A lesser number do understand to a certain extent but will never believe their company would log conversations. They believe what they're told. Even fewer understand the capability to a reasonable degree and recognize that privacy could be violated but lean away from it being acted upon. The tiniest few are actually aware of the engine's true capability and its implementation. They are highly compensated contributors and are likely working at the technical Fellow level or are executive management.
In general people everywhere are more than willing to sacrifice privacy for either convenience or security. Their response to suggestions that they are being spied upon is either the simpleton's "It's a conspiracy theory" or "I'm not guilty of anything. If they want to bore themselves to death they can listen."
the point is the mic is on, but she is not recording or listening, unless ACTIVATED, once activated, yes she will listen intently for 20 seconds, if nothing understood, she shuts back off.
I will reiterate. Alexa (or any agent) is "activated" once a key word or phrase is spoken. To know when that keyword or phrase has been uttered it _MUST_ listen to EVERYTHING to "hear" that activation. Once it determines (or thinks it determines) the activation, it then CONTINUES to listen but is now in a mode where it's not listening for an activation phrase but an actual command. In either case, it's ALWAYS listening.
I find it interesting that techies in security, whether it be surveillance, security, biometrics, etc., by and large shun having such devices in their homes (And I imagine those in certain security services even more so.)
There seems to be two approaches among tech people: One group who'll have their entire home wired to the nth degree and are trying to find a cloud-enabled robot to take out the trash. And the other group who, to steal a phrase, "keepa gun ready to shoot their printer if it makes a wrong noise".
I will reiterate. Alexa (or any agent) is "activated" once a key word or phrase is spoken. To know when that keyword or phrase has been uttered it _MUST_ listen to EVERYTHING to "listen" for that activation. Once it determines (or thinks it determines) the activation, it then CONTINUES to listen but is now in a mode where it's not listening for an activation phrase but an actual command. In either case, it's ALWAYS listening.
maybe, my meaning is not coming across the keyboard
alexa or any one of a similar type of devise, is always WAITING on the activation code...always listening FOR THE CODE, otherwise, she/it is NOT listening in on your conversation, and certainly not butting into it either
alexa is NOT recording any part of a conversation that she was not invited/activated into
I never said she was not listening at all, what I have said is, if not activated, she is not listening to your complete conversation.
there is a big difference between waiting(listening) for an activation code for converse/action, and just listening in on a conversation as being a buttinski
I will reiterate. Alexa (or any agent) is "activated" once a key word or phrase is spoken. To know when that keyword or phrase has been uttered it _MUST_ listen to EVERYTHING to "listen" for that activation. Once it determines (or thinks it determines) the activation, it then CONTINUES to listen but is now in a mode where it's not just listening for an activation phrase but an actual command. In either case, it's ALWAYS listening.
So one example of why it's keeping track of (logging) everything prior to hearing "Alexa" relates to training. It's always trying to improve predictions through the inference engine and some of those challenges are in pronunciation, phrasing, pauses, rapidity of speech. A black person from Mississippi is going to pronounce 'Alexa' in a markedly different way than someone from Chenai India and they will insert that trigger word into background streams of conversation in different fashions. The inference engine wants to pick it out correctly the first time but it won't always. The training engine has a degree of feedback that comes from the user's subsequent repetition of the trigger word usually louder, more distinctly and with greater whitespace around it as the user attempts to get the beast's attention. It gets hints that it's made a mistake. To train-in what it missed it has to process the original context up and down the transform stack in order to build the neural net with that type of usage, tone and accent. The context it's using for training comes from what you said before it understood 'Alexa' which means it's reaching back to stored data. Past tense "stored".
And now over in China....they are now tracking down people who participated in the riots.
And they don't even need to do much as China tracks everything already.
And the people think if they delete their texts they are ok. Little do they know....
Alexa or any one of a similar type of devise, is always WAITING on the activation code...always listening FOR THE CODE, otherwise, she/it is NOT listening in on your conversation, and certainly not butting into it either. Alexa is NOT recording any part of a conversation that she was not invited/activated into
How can the bolded be true? Your statement defies logic.
I was gifted an Echo, when they first came out. My Echo used to say "Sorry, I did not understand you.", at random times, without prompting it. That was when I unplugged it and threw it in the closet!
There seems to be two approaches among tech people: One group who'll have their entire home wired to the nth degree and are trying to find a cloud-enabled robot to take out the trash. And the other group who, to steal a phrase, "keepa gun ready to shoot their printer if it makes a wrong noise".
But I think there is one thing we all can agree on...tech in the wrong hands can be used for bad reasons.
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