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sean-duffy | 6 years ago

Most people already carry a Big Brother-esque device with a camera and microphone in their pockets everywhere they go.

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0xffff2|6 years ago

You can completely disable Siri or whatever your device's equivalent is. The entire purpose of Alexa is to be listening all the time. They're not equivalent.

Pxtl|6 years ago

Can you prove that you've disabled it? That it's not listening all the time and logging interesting sounds?

I don't see a huge difference between a speaker that's designed to have an always-on mic listening for a code-word and we're just going to trust that it doesn't log anything unless it hears that codeword, and a phone that's designed to have the same, but has a software option to turn it off.

Either way, we're trusting that the device isn't abusing the fact that it has a mic.

puranjay|6 years ago

Of course, but the convenience of a smartphone does outweigh the potential surveillance. I getwork done on my phone, book cabs and flight tickets, get food delivered. I've tried living without my smartphone but it's not feasible.

A smart speaker I can live without all my life

izzydata|6 years ago

But those are infinitely more useful than a smart speaker.