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We've thought about getting Alexa, and if we do, I'll just unplug it and put it in the closet when we don't use it.
I love my Echo devices and use them several times a day, including when I’m reading C-D threads e.g. “Alexa, what is the population of...” It’s great for reminders/timers, simple math questions (what is the square root of...), conversion questions (how many acres in 12 hectares), calories (how many calories in an apple), and other simple google type questions.
Don’t unplug the device from the wall. Just unplug the device end of the chord.
I'd hate to have her call the cops because she was listening to "Law and Order" on the TV.
She "wakes up" to anything close to her name, like "election."
- Watching cable TV.
- Using social media.
- Purchasing any Apple brand product.
- Drinking Starbucks.
- Leasing, instead of buying, a car.
- ...and for Damn Sure, never use a Big Brother box like Alexa, Siri, Cortana or whatever.
I have upheld the above standards ...doubt I'll reach 90 though...
It's great that this woman was saved from further harm but if we accept this sort of technology calling the cops in these circumstances we set a very bad precedent. And we cannot ignore the fact that Amazon lied to us about their device only listening when we say "Alexa". If they are lying about that, what else are they lying about?
Are you OK with our technology listening to us and reporting us when we commit a crime? What about countries with hate speech laws? Should this sort of technology report people committing hate speech infractions in their own homes?
Granted, it's about Google, (doing the same thing as Alexa), but further down the article it states:
Quote:
Earlier this year, a report from Bloomberg revealed fellow tech giant Amazon also listens to some recordings of customer interactions with its voice-based assistant Alexa.
Amazon confirmed the process and said it did so with a small number of recordings in order to help train the artificial intelligence’s responses.
The firm said users are also able to review and delete recordings linked to their account via the Alexa companion app.
On Monday, the NHS announced a new partnership with Amazon that will see verified health information based on the NHS website provided via Alexa.
How special. Could these companies be any more intrusive?
And let's go back to earlier in the article:
Quote:
In a statement, the company admitted that a small number of anonymous recordings were transcribed by its experts, and revealed that an investigation had been launched after some Dutch audio data had been leaked.
'We partner with language experts around the world to improve speech technology by transcribing a small set of queries – this work is critical to developing technology that powers products like the Google Assistant,' Google said in a statement.
'We just learned that one of these reviewers has violated our data security policies by leaking confidential Dutch audio data.'
Well, gee, I just can't believe that happened. Who would have ever guessed that something like that could happen.
Now, here's why I'm really ticked about this. Because it's all BS! Complete and utter B! S!
I used to get paid to do voice recordings for all of these gadgets. Google Glass, Alexa, Siri, Echo, and a whole other assortment of names. Many, many, many recordings - and I was clearly and obviously not the only one who did these.
We had several different phrases to say, several different varieties of recordings to make based on what people might say when USING the device. Examples would be looking something up, reading email, checking the weather, turning the car radio on, going through their music playlist, setting up appointments, locating a business or address, etc. We did all of these, and we were people from all over the country with many different dialects and accents. There were people who spoke softly, people who were louder, people who had terrible mics, and people with good mics. All kinds of different ways of speaking were recorded for these companies and their intrusive gadgets disguised as 'helpful' products.
This went on for a few years, not just an hour, not just a day or week, years. We made these recordings for years. Based on all of the recordings that I have done, I am not buying it when they say that they are doing this to "improve the technology". B. Fricken. S.
(No, this was not a main job, but it definitely paid well for what we did, and it was easy.)
If they felt the need to "improve technology", they could continue how they did it before they started spying on people without those people knowing. This is unacceptable of these companies, and they need to be called out on the carpet for it by everyone.
I don’t have one. But my super conservative elderly parents do. They say they have nothing to hide and aren’t concerned about it.
I appreciate that it can effectively serve as Life Alert without having to worry about forgetting to physically carry the remote around 24/7 or the ripoff $50+/month charge.
If it doesn't listen, how does it know we said Alexa? Of course it has to listen all the time.... It's software control with safety in mind that if there is a phrase of call the cops, it may default to call... It's pretty understandable....
And what other defaults could be included without the customer informed of them? This has the ugly potential for being far more than the lazy guy's toy.
- Watching cable TV.
- Using social media.
- Purchasing any Apple brand product.
- Drinking Starbucks.
- Leasing, instead of buying, a car.
- ...and for Damn Sure, never use a Big Brother box like Alexa, Siri, Cortana or whatever.
I have upheld the above standards ...doubt I'll reach 90 though...
If you want to reach 90, worry about what you consume, not what electronic devices or social media sites to use. Best of luck.
And we cannot ignore the fact that Amazon lied to us about their device only listening when we say "Alexa". If they are lying about that, what else are they lying about?
If you want to reach 90, worry about what you consume, not what electronic devices or social media sites to use. Best of luck.
Man I put my foot in my mouth aboyt the social media one... I considered text heavy forums different than image heavy sites. Well ok, at least I dropped Facebook and, never started Gram, Snap, Twitter or whatever else is out there.
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