I have owned a Echo for over a year and it does not record conversation. It does listen for the command: Alexa.
After the command it will do certain things:
Turn off/on lights (Insteon add On)
Play music/talk radio through I heart radio
Timer
weather.
There are many more options I dont use.
Hope this helps.
I use it for one thing — has a nice feature called “Flash Briefing”, where you select various news feeds. I keep it in the bathroom, walk in and say “ Alexa flash briefing” and it fires up a weather report, Bloomberg market minute, Fox News latest headlines, the BBC’s latest hourly news, AP global news, APs political news and the overnight sports scores. Lasts about 20 minutes, and by then I’m done showering and shaving.at
There’s a “skill” some guy developed to read the latest Reddit headers. Wish someone would develop one that reads the links on Drudge.