Amazon's Plan to Move Into Every Apartment and Home Before You Do (house, cameras)

[Tek_Freek]

But, but, but... the toaster has a spy cam and a high gain mike in it. And it's set to record any time it hears anything. Even a fart. If it hears you farting too often it will send you an ad for these.

https://www.amazon.com/Shreddies-USA.../dp/B00LIQ82FK

We are doomed! Doomed I tell you!

[turf3]

Of course Amazon is just using the data to try to sell you stuff. They are not working for some nefarious secret governmental organization. That is the stuff of tinfoil hat conspiracy theories.


My concern, and I am not sure what to do about it, is that the data have been collected and stored. If (it's a big "if) someone (whether individual or organization) wanted to do me harm, it wouldn't be very difficult at all to put together a real accurate picture of me, my locations, my typical activities, etc. That is what concerns me. We are learning that data are forever. There has been a presumption in America of privacy, especially around matters political sexual and financial. But "freedom of speech", for example, is degraded if all the detailed personal information of someone saying something even minimally controversial is available. If you thought that expressing your opinion on politics was likely to get you murdered, how eager would you be to do so?

[Returning2USA]

Originally Posted by CapnTrips

Its curious how many people are willing to trade privacy for convenience. Many people don't understand or believe that Alexa is listening all the time, and if they do, the attitude is "I don't care, I'm not doing anything wrong." Maybe not, but Amazon making money out of selling your privacy to vendors definitely is wrong.

thanks to the OP


Agree, Cap'n.

I don't do anything wrong / illegal.

But I don't want spying on my convos with my GF, colleagues, boss, mother, etc.

These corporate Big Brothers know what brand of toilet paper we use.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by Returning2USA

thanks to the OP


Agree, Cap'n.

I don't do anything wrong / illegal.

But I don't want spying on my convos with my GF, colleagues, boss, mother, etc.

These corporate Big Brothers know what brand of toilet paper we use.

You can remove every digital device in your house and they still know what brand of toilet paper you use. Where do you think the information that is keyed into any cash register anywhere on the planet goes?

If you are seriously worried about being tracked you need to go live in the woods and make everything you need by hand.

[nc17]

The only thing that I claim is that tech and commerce corps benefit immensely by collecting your personal data, and data collection is very effective at gathering evidence and constructing a picture of who you are as a customer. I don't think the oversight or regulation of their practices goes far enough, because most of the public doesn't understand it or care enough about it.
Tech giants were of course always very intelligent and educated, but these days they are very savvy and proactive, which I wouldn't say was the case a decade or two ago. In the past, children and underground counter-cultures (like the hacking community) were beyond the understanding of corporate adults, but not anymore. Big Tech seems to cover all bases.

Originally Posted by Peregrine

If true, you'd be agreeing with me. You'd know how good packet sniffer's are and how easy it would be to analyze all your traffic.
I have no doubt these companies have tech I can't even imagine. BUT... masking traffic on my personal network so I wouldn't know what's leaving seems far fetched at this point with the even basic and free tools we have now.
They get better tech.
So do we.
Not to even mention the risk they would be taking if this was true. If we suddenly got concrete proof that Google/Amazon recorded us constantly? I can't imagine either company recovering from that...

When you speak to Amazon Echo and other Alexa devices, it transmits the voice command to Amazon's servers. A packet sniffer or other network analyzer will reflect that. I never suggested that it works like a phone tap, reading your voice beyond the requests you made. It could possibly work that way, but it only needs to determine what products you're requesting, when you're requesting them, when you aren't requesting, how often you make those requests, etc.
There's the often referenced story about an under-18 girl who was shopping on Target for random supplements and bathroom products, and her parents started receiving strange recommendations for baby supplies. The algorithm determined she was pregnant before she or anyone else did.
So what else can data collection services determine about you that you don't want others to know, or you don't know about yourself?

[Tek_Freek]

That I'm not a paranoid person.

[gguerra]

Paranoia IS NOT the same thing as wanting to protect your own privacy. Some people want to remain private, does not make them paranoid. I do agree, however, if that is the case, then DON'T sign up for any social media period but if you still use the internet and a browser such as FF or Chrome and you do searches on Google, you already giving up a lot. That is not the same as volunteering your personal data to a social media site like Facebook. Amazon is about marketing, at least that is what they tell you. What they say and what they do could be completely different as we have seen in the past with other companies, there is NO denying that. Apples and Oranges, Data vs Metadata. The internet is not a private place, period. Get a good VPN and use the Tor browser would be a good start at remaining anonymous. You do have to get your internet services from somewhere. You could hijack someone else's wifi, there are other ways but at some point or another, you will leave a footprint.

[Ttark]

It's curious how many people are willing to trade privacy for convenience. Many people don't understand or believe that Alexa is listening all the time, and if they do, the attitude is "I don't care, I'm not doing anything wrong." Maybe not, but Amazon making money out of selling your privacy to vendors definitely is wrong.

My mom is guilty as charged, except she settled on Google ("because that's what everybody uses"), which is just as bad if not worse than Amazon Alexa.

"Okay Google, delete yourself!"

You can remove every digital device in your house and they still know what brand of toilet paper you use. Where do you think the information that is keyed into any cash register anywhere on the planet goes?

Yes, you can't make yourself disappear 100% but there are proactive things you can do right now that make their job of tracking you and your purchases a f****n' hell of a lot harder. Paying for everything in anonymous cash, instead of using an access card tied to a traceable bank account, for a start.

If you have to use a store affinity card, give them only the bare minimum of information they demand (usually a name and phone number; I use a pseudonym and a phone company test number in VANCWA01DS0 that always goes to a busy signal). If they demand an address, never use your own. I've been known to use the address of a library I often hung out at years ago which has since been demolished and redeveloped. Your old school might be another option, or even the Star*ucks up the road. Worked fine for me for years.

An aside, but worth mentioning: my late grandmother did the favor of leaving to me (well, not really) her old Safeway Club which is still registered under her old phone number from three number changes ago. Hey, as infrequently as I shop at Safety-way, it's still there and it works, and my purchases there get traced to somebody who'd been dead for six years rather than to me! (Thanks, grandma....)

[Tek_Freek]

Asian...



You can remove every digital device in your house and they still know what brand of toilet paper you use. Where do you think the information that is keyed into any cash register anywhere on the planet goes?

If you are seriously worried about being tracked you need to go live in the woods and make everything you need by hand.

[oldgardener]

They're keeping track of my daily Jeopardy scores on Alexa, aren't they?? I knew it!!


Paranoia does strike deep, people.