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Big Brother is listening
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Aug 15, 2018 14:15:35   #
DaveC1 Loc: South East US
 
First let me say this is a true story. My son gave my wife and I a couple of Amazon Alexa echo devices for Christmas 2017. One sits in our bedroom and the other is at my wife's computer. For the most part Alexa gets ask by my wife for a weather report and that's about it.

The end of last week while in our bedroom I commented to my wife I needed to buy a new pair of shoes as the ones I wear on an almost daily basis were getting a bit worn. We talked about it for maybe 2 minutes with my wife suggesting I go on line and shop for the brand and size I wanted. As with many things, procrastination took over and as of today I have not done anything further about said shoe purchase.

This morning my wife ask if I had found the shoes I wanted since much of her media like Facebook is now covered with adds for the shoe brand I favor. I assured her I had done nothing more about the shoes and ask had she been looking for me. And neither of us has done anything about a shoe purchase other than the conversation we had within earshot of one of the Alexa devices; and to further confirm our suspicions the Alexa hardware is routed through her computer not mine and I have no shoe adds in anything I'm looking at online.

So food for thought.

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Aug 15, 2018 14:20:44   #
Daryl New Loc: Wellington,New Zealand
 
Food for thought,for sure....

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Aug 15, 2018 14:29:48   #
fotoman150
 
Scary

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Aug 15, 2018 14:41:09   #
Soul Dr. Loc: Beautiful Shenandoah Valley
 
That's one reason why I won't have an Alexa or any other of these types of devices.
Don't trust the true purpose of these electronic chatterboxes.
Are they really helpful or just gatherers of personal information.
What are your thoughts on this?

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Aug 15, 2018 14:41:21   #
Eric2018 Loc: Los Angeles, CA, USA
 
DaveC1 wrote:
My son gave my wife and I a couple of Amazon Alexa echo devices for Christmas 2017. . . .


I hate to cast aspersions on your son, but . . . .

Just kidding, of course (or am I?)

- Eric

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Aug 15, 2018 14:49:33   #
DaveC1 Loc: South East US
 
Soul Dr. wrote:
That's one reason why I won't have an Alexa or any other of these types of devices.
Don't trust the true purpose of these electronic chatterboxes.
Are they really helpful or just gatherers of personal information.
What are your thoughts on this?


Up until this happened I largely discounted some of the stories about Alexa that have been in the media as bugs in the software. At this point I'm thinking: "Not a bug but a feature!"

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Aug 15, 2018 14:50:12   #
DaveC1 Loc: South East US
 
Eric2018 wrote:
I hate to cast aspersions on your son, but . . . .

Just kidding, of course (or am I?)

- Eric


OH and don't think he's not going to hear about this!

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Aug 15, 2018 14:54:54   #
Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas
 
Not sure if big brother is, but alexa certainly is - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/business/amazon-alexa-conversation-shared-echo.html

And the smart tv's not only listen but some of them have small cameras for facial recongition and watch... isn't technology great...

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Aug 15, 2018 14:58:13   #
DaveC1 Loc: South East US
 
Shellback wrote:
Not sure if big brother is, but alexa certainly is - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/business/amazon-alexa-conversation-shared-echo.html

And the smart tv's not only listen but some of them have small cameras for facial recongition and watch... isn't technology great...



Yeah I've seen that story. That's what I said above; "Its not a bug, its a feature!"

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Aug 15, 2018 15:30:44   #
Sunnely Loc: Wisconsin
 
Soul Dr. wrote:
That's one reason why I won't have an Alexa or any other of these types of devices.
Don't trust the true purpose of these electronic chatterboxes.
Are they really helpful or just gatherers of personal information.
What are your thoughts on this?


Alexa (Amazon) keeps a record of all you've said and Google keeps track of all places you've been.

Scary, indeed. Can they be used as evidence against you, someday?

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Aug 15, 2018 16:47:56   #
therwol Loc: USA
 
Sunnely wrote:
Alexa (Amazon) keeps a record of all you've said and Google keeps track of all places you've been.

Scary, indeed. Can they be used as evidence against you, someday?


I don't think that their interest is in assisting law enforcement. In fact, they throw fits whenever law enforcement wants to see their daae. It's all about marketing and selling your information and preferences to people who want to sell you something. If some sensitive or incriminating information happens to get recorded, oh well. But you're right. Who knows where this stuff is going to end up someday? I even look at all of the vitriolic hate posts on this forum and wonder if it's going to come back to bite some people in the ass some day.

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Aug 15, 2018 19:37:23   #
Quinn 4
 
Give them back to your son, if he does not want them to the trash can with them. Cut off big brother at the throat.

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Aug 15, 2018 21:25:11   #
newtoyou Loc: Eastport
 
FYI. Your cell phone does same thing. If I drive by a restaurant more than a few times a week, I get notices about favorite places with them on top. Cameras at intersections, stores, discount offers track buying habits. Who knows what else. 1984 deja vu all over again.

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Aug 16, 2018 06:13:16   #
mleuck
 
Already trashed my Echo. It is truly a spy device. It listens and records more than "shopping" conversations! Get rid of it.

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Aug 16, 2018 06:14:48   #
sb Loc: Florida's East Coast
 
My fingers and eyes still work, so I do not need a device like this - but I would love to have both an Alexa and a Siri together and see if I could get them going into a conversation with each other...... "Siri - does Alexa suck?" "yes - Alexa sucks" From Alexa: "No - YOU suck" and so on. Could get very interesting!

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