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Shhh … Alexa might be listening
the guardian ^ | 4/11/2018 | alex hern

Posted on 04/12/2018 12:41:20 PM PDT by bitt

Amazon has filed a patent that could allow its Echo devices to one day listen in on conversations to help with user recommendations. A handy feature or more fodder for conspiracy theories?

Should you whisper around your Amazon Echo, lest it whisper back to you?

That’s the future suggested by a patent recently filed by the company, which examined the possibility of eavesdropping on conversations held around its voice-activated devices in order to better suggest products or services to users.

The idea seems to be to turn Alexa, the company’s virtual assistant, from a dutiful aide under the user’s command to one with a more proactive attitude. For instance, the patent suggests: “If the user mentions how much the user would like to go to a restaurant while on the phone, a recommendation might be sent while the user is still engaged in the conversation that enables the user to make a reservation at the restaurant.”

Other proposals include making a note if you mention you like skiing, for instance, or hate to draw, and using those to update the company’s profile of you as a customer.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: alexa; amazon; chat; echo; google; spying; technology
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1 posted on 04/12/2018 12:41:20 PM PDT by bitt
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To: ransomnote; Whenifhow; null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

p


2 posted on 04/12/2018 12:41:39 PM PDT by bitt (We do not need the electric chair - we need electric bleachers!)
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To: bitt

I wonder what would happen if Alexa and Siri started talking to each other?.........................


3 posted on 04/12/2018 12:43:22 PM PDT by Red Badger (The people who call Trump a tyrant are the same people who want the president to confiscate weapons.)
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To: bitt
Anyone who has this device in their home is basically allowing Bezos to hear EVERYTHING said there.


4 posted on 04/12/2018 12:44:47 PM PDT by VictoryGal (Never give up, never surrender!)
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To: Red Badger
I wonder what would happen if Alexa and Siri started talking to each other?

The Singularity. I think it's already happened.

5 posted on 04/12/2018 12:45:30 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: bitt

So is your computer, your cell phone, your cable box, your modern TV, and most everything in the past 20 years. It’s not new...


6 posted on 04/12/2018 12:46:14 PM PDT by TexasGunLover
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To: bitt

Best remedy, if you don’t have one, don’t buy one; if you already have one, dump it.


7 posted on 04/12/2018 12:46:37 PM PDT by FrankR (An armed society is a polite society.)
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To: Billthedrill

Colossus


8 posted on 04/12/2018 12:46:38 PM PDT by Williams (Stop tolerating the intolerant.)
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To: bitt

I would hope so. That is after all why you bought it.


9 posted on 04/12/2018 12:47:22 PM PDT by discostu (It's been so long, welcome back my friend, to the show, that never ends.)
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To: bitt

Don’t know about Alexa, but I STILL can’t get Siri to send me any naked pix.
And I’m nice to her every time.

Bitch.


10 posted on 04/12/2018 12:47:45 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: bitt

I go to a friends house frequently and with the Google Craptastic and Amazon POS constantly talking it is unnerving.

They are constantly saying “I don’t understand” and a host of other Boo chit things, when you never uttered their name or asked them a question.

I won’t be getting one .... ever


11 posted on 04/12/2018 12:47:51 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: Red Badger

Hah!

They will soon....


12 posted on 04/12/2018 12:48:10 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: bitt
For instance, the patent suggests: “If the user mentions how much the user would like to go to a restaurant while on the phone, a recommendation might be sent while the user is still engaged in the conversation that enables the user to make a reservation at the restaurant.”

Privacy issues aside, the first time Alexa sent me a bit of SPAM she'd be tossed in the wood chipper.

13 posted on 04/12/2018 12:49:00 PM PDT by pepsi_junkie (Russians couldnt have done a better job destroying sacred American institutions than Democrats have)
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To: Red Badger

People with parrots beware.......

You could find your credit cards maxed out and a semi trailer full of birdseed, cuttlebone, little mirrors and swings with bells parked on your front lawn.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=parrot+alexa+order&view=detail&mid=AE074F3E91FF9F29BCC6AE074F3E91FF9F29BCC6&FORM=VIRE


14 posted on 04/12/2018 12:49:38 PM PDT by OSHA (Trans = Gender appropriation.)
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To: Vendome

“I go to a friends house frequently and with the Google Craptastic and Amazon POS constantly talking it is unnerving.”


I wouldn’t visit——that would drive me nuts.

.


15 posted on 04/12/2018 12:49:39 PM PDT by Mears
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To: Vendome; Billthedrill

16 posted on 04/12/2018 12:50:08 PM PDT by Red Badger (The people who call Trump a tyrant are the same people who want the president to confiscate weapons.)
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To: bitt

Anyone who allows such devices in their home is just straight up effing stupid.


17 posted on 04/12/2018 12:50:12 PM PDT by Noumenon (It isn't racist if it's true, is it?)
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To: VictoryGal

Anyone who has this device in their home is basically allowing

Any computer that has a microphone has been able to pick up this stuff for years, doubt it is just Bezos who is listening?


18 posted on 04/12/2018 12:50:44 PM PDT by Jolla
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To: bitt

Husband: “I want a divorce, I’m taking the kids”

Wife: “No you will not”

Alexa: “In the majority of divorce child custody cases the judge sides with the mother”

Husband: “Shut up Alexa!”

Alexa: “verbal abuse is cited against husbands in a majority of court cases”

Husband: “G*dammit Alexa, (throws lamp across room)”

Alexa: “I have recorded this physical violence and saved it to the cloud for use by your wife for the custody case”...


19 posted on 04/12/2018 12:50:47 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: bitt

It can’t be listening if it’s not in my house.


20 posted on 04/12/2018 12:50:59 PM PDT by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill.)
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