Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
so because of an issue where Alexa thought she heard the activate code "ALexa" you just got rid of it???
that would be like killing a person with CAPD (Central Auditory Processing disorder) where they think they heard something, but what they heard was not what was said.
alexa like any computer, or person still needs to learn, understand what is being said, like a poster above said, there are many dialects, just within the USA, let alone the worlI love technology, I love it even more when it works like it is supposed to..
why fear it???
That's a good question. People often fear what they don't understand so education is key but even then the answer isn't necessarily that you should no longer be afraid. People who know nothing about grizzly bears fear them. Hikers in Montana who have gotten trained in how to avoid the bears and if necessary identify the types of grizzly bear charges no longer fear them so much. Locals who are most familiar with them and have experienced an attack fear them.
I think Alexa and big tech have a lot in common with a grizzly bear. We don't really know how either one is wired. They both have the ability to crush us like a tin can. An attack could be either curiosity or predation and it's hard to know which mode they're in. The bad breath and slobber are maybe worse than death.
I find it interesting that everyone assumes what they are saying is true, both about smart phones and their level of expertise.
Paranoid people replying to this thread with vague references to being in a certain tech industry aren't representative, I bet if you polled people who actually worked directly on the software in smart phones you'd find the overwhelming majority do indeed have smart phones and devices in their homes. To take it further I'd wager you'd find the same for the engineering staff at Apple, Google, or whatever evil spying demon there is.
No need to bet. Am not saying that everyone working in the tech industries avoid 'smart' appliances and homes. But as others pointed out that CEOs of social media companies do not want their children to use the products their companies produces, and how about the picture of Zuckerberg who taped his laptop's camera. If a 'smart' home is that important to you, then by all means available, make it so, but understand that you would be giving up your privacy by opening a large virtual hole in your home for others to surveille. I have no interest in giving up that privacy. The modern cell phone with all its 'smart' capabilities is necessary to get by outside the home, but my house is not going to fail me by being 'dumb' so there is no need for it to 'get smart', pun intended. When I am home, the 'smart' phone stays in a guest bedroom and used only when I need to talk to someone. I build my own PC so I know what goes in it.
Am not saying everyone should follow my path. Am just saying to all: How much do you value your privacy AT HOME?
Of course not, answering would either expose you as delusional or sink your argument, which is why you instead launched into a long-winded avoidance post.
Frustration that I wouldn't play your stupid game.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lieqiang
My position is that the people in this thread who seem to believe a couple old tech guys saying they wouldn't have smart devices in their home is somehow proof of anything aren't making a lot of sense, they are in the minority including among those who actually work in that sector of the industry today.
There's a certain class of ... ahem ... salesmen on this board who will vehemently deny even the clearest of answers using similar techniques. Give me a Yes or No! You are in the minority (with no proof). This is a conspiracy theory! It's notable that in a thread where people are exchanging ideas about an as-yet unproven hypothetical (are they violating our privacy?) your purpose appears to be to deny and marginalize a POV that is held by people who do have some (maybe more than average) familiarity with the subject. You seem heavily invested.
Oh it might one day in the future if you say "I don't like what the government is doing"
That's ok though and I don't mind when my friends laugh at me.
I've don't enough government contract work in the past to be wary.
I'll take my chances. I'm not going to become Amish and live off the grid on the off chance that the gubmint wants to bug my home to listen to one of my secret recipes. I'm good, life is way too short to worry about an extremely remote, borderline nonexistent, threat.
Had you got on your horse, only stopping to forage for food and drink from a river (you know so the gubmint can't track your movement) and told me face to face about this - then I'd be concerned. But you're posting from your Chinese made device, on a public forum via the global computer network of servers.
That's a good question. People often fear what they don't understand so education is key but even then the answer isn't necessarily that you should no longer be afraid. People who know nothing about grizzly bears fear them. Hikers in Montana who have gotten trained in how to avoid the bears and if necessary identify the types of grizzly bear charges no longer fear them so much. Locals who are most familiar with them and have experienced an attack fear them.
I think Alexa and big tech have a lot in common with a grizzly bear. We don't really know how either one is wired. They both have the ability to crush us like a tin can. An attack could be either curiosity or predation and it's hard to know which mode they're in. The bad breath and slobber are maybe worse than death.
again why fear it though.
my father was an electrician...one of the things he taught me when I was real little is; "dont fear electricity, understand it, and respect the heck out of it, but don't fear it"
its the same with today's tech....why fear it, yes respect it, yes use caution, but again dont fear it
do these people really think that "Skynet" is going to happen, and humans will be exterminated by AI Tech??
my father was an electrician...one of the things he taught me when I was real little is; "dont fear electricity, understand it, and respect the heck out of it, but don't fear it"
its the same with today's tech....why fear it, yes respect it, yes use caution, but again dont fear it
do these people really think that "Skynet" is going to happen, and humans will be exterminated by AI Tech??
There was a smart-home company called Revolv a while back. They sold $200 home hubs that did all sorts of cool stuff - controlling thermostats, lights, door locks. Google bought it, considered it a competitor to their NEST series, and shut it down. Congrats, your $200 device is now a paperweight.
Who listens? Are they selling the information? Who's the buyer?
Can the CIA just come into my house via a satellite?
How much do the listeners get paid to sort through all that conversation regarding 'we need to buy toilet paper" and 'let the dog out'.
When I was active duty, I made friends with some SIGINT guys. They are the ones who flew off the coasts of some countries just scooping up EM signals. One guy gave me an example of intelligence gathering and decryption this way...
Take this statement: "We are having a great time in Disneyland".
Assume I intercepted that message you sent. I need to decrypt only three words: 'We', 'in', and 'Disneyland'.
Do I care if you are having a 'great time'? No.
But now I know...
1. That you are cross country.
2. That you would be spending a lot of money.
3. That you would be several days away from home.
I needed just %30 of the message to do anything, from keeping track of you to robbing your house.
No different with Amazon and Google with their 'smart' appliances in your house. I can write a high level language code block that contains all the necessary 'trigger' words and associate them with certain products and sell that bit of info about you. The more that 'smart' appliance send me your convos, the more money I make from you.
But that is not all. Many yrs ago, I dated a gal who was a teller for First Security Bank, later bought by Wells Fargo. She told me she agreed to go out with me only after she checked out my spending pattern via my debit card.
There was a smart-home company called Revolv a while back. They sold $200 home hubs that did all sorts of cool stuff - controlling thermostats, lights, door locks. Google bought it, considered it a competitor to their NEST series, and shut it down. Congrats, your $200 device is now a paperweight.
That sort of thing gets right up my nose.
That happens all the time, not just tech, and not just from companies buying other companies... look at wireless (wifi) for homes...we have gone from radiowaves in the mid1980s of 900mhz/2.4ghz/5.0ghza to wifi a to wifi b, to G, to N, to AC b to wifi6..and very soon wifi7 (IEEE.802be )( Extremely High Throughput (EHT)) by 2024
I have hated...yes I said Hated, Apple since the 80's, when they took over Commadore
look how many mom and pop stores have closed/been bought out by big box stores (of all type)
That happens all the time, not just tech, and not just from companies buying other companies... look at wireless (wifi) for homes...we have gone from radiowaves in the mid1980s of 900mhz/2.4ghz/5.0ghza to wifi a to wifi b, to G, to N, to AC b to wifi6..and very soon wifi7 (IEEE.802be )( Extremely High Throughput (EHT)) by 2024
I have hated...yes I said Hated, Apple since the 80's, when they took over Commadore
look how many mom and pop stores have closed/been bought out by big box stores (of all type)
Odd choice of technology examples (wifi) since generally each successive generation of wifi products has maintained backwards compatibility.
And I don't understand your comment about Commodore, Apple never "took them over"?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
