Amazon has sold 3 million Echo speakers, research firm says [3,000,000 spies in our houses]

Seattle Times ^ | April 6, 2016 | Ángel González

[upchuck]

A research firm estimates Amazon.com has sold 3 million Echo voice-controlled home speakers, and that close to half of U.S. Amazon customers are aware of the product. [snip]

The device, which sells for $180, also has given Amazon a big role in the emerging field of home automation, as many people use it to control thermostats or lights that work off Wi-Fi. [snip]

Launched in late 2014, the Echo slowly picked up speed as word spread about its uncanny abilities — from answering questions to turning on the living-room lights.

[upchuck]

Just what I need. :)

Let me never be accused of being so lazy I won't get up to adjust my home lighting or thermostat.

[Enlightened1]

3 Million Imperial Spy Drones...

[upchuck]

Tech ping.

[Norseman]

New and improved technology from “1984” and we even install it ourselves.

With the government now seeking to prosecute climate skeptics, be careful with those dinner table discussions folks.

[TexasGator]

” [3,000,000 spies in our houses]”

That is not in the article.

[Falcon4.0]

Wait until they start selling Robots like in the Will Smith movie "I Robot".
There will be a Government Agent in every home.

[Fhios]

The []’s are understood to mean embedded commentary on the quoted material. FYI

[Mad Dawgg]

OMG speakers in our houses that can listen, what will be next...? Devices that we carry in our pockets that can listen and see...?

Oh wait...

[GingisK]

That is not in the article.

The conclusion is simple logic based upon facts in the article. The devices use voice recognition and are connected to the Internet. That is a spy device since the NSA does process ALL Internet content.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The NSA thanks you for your cooperation.

[Blennos]

I have an Echo. It is a great device for simple tasks such as playing music from your library or general information questions. The voice recognition is the best I have ever experienced. It does always listen for its activation word. So I am careful what I say around it. No family secrets are ever uttered in its presence.

[day10]

I have a lot of fun with mine, and even wrote a simple skill to say a compliment to my SO when commanded. She got a kick out of that!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Behind Winston's back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away about pig-iron and the overfulfilment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

[DavidLSpud]

/Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you./ ( ; ) ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22 http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3167.Joseph_Heller

[null and void]

No family secrets are ever uttered in its presence.

It's good for your children to learn to self-censor everything they say.

It will serve them well in the future.

[GreenHornet]

Let me never be accused of being so lazy I won't get up to adjust my home lighting or thermostat.

I can see where this capability could be useful for someone whose mobility is limited due to a disability.

[Cowgirl of Justice]

I simply unplug mine until I want to hear music.

[Ouderkirk]

Ask it to tell an Obama joke or any democrat and you get zero. Republican joke she has a million

[GOPJ]

Here’s a product Amazon can sell next: a device to un-connect all these devices in the event of a major cyber attack.

[DoughtyOne]