Silicon Valley Is Listening to Your Most Intimate Moments

[3xblah]

   curl https://www.bloombergquint.com/amp/bq-blue-exclusive/silicon-valley-got-millions-to-let-siri-and-alexa-listen-in |sed -n 'N;/story-element-text">/p' > a.htm

   firefox a.htm

Replace "firefox" with any browser that can process basic HTML. No Javascript or CSS needed.

[markwakeford]

You can also just disable javascript for the website.

[mirimir]

Thank you !!!

Nice hack.

[jedberg]

I guess having done AI and security for 20 years means none of this fazes me.

Of course they record what you say, and of course a human is listening to it. How else would they train their models?

I also believe Amazon when they say that it isn't recording unless the blue light is on, and that only comes on when it thinks you said "Alexa".

I mute the device when I'm having a private conversation. If it activates otherwise, I'm pretty aware of that.

I guess it just doesn't really bother me. I have a pretty good idea of what it's recording.

[Balgair]

> I have a pretty good idea of what it's recording.

Like an 8 year old girl?[0]

Yeah, it's a Ring doorbell camera thingy, but Ring has been an Amazon product for just shy of two years now. Sure we can blame the mother for setting it up 'wrong', or for using an old password, or some other very common problem that <99% of all user will have. But creeps have shown that it's not just straightforward, but easy, to get into these devices.

It's better to just not have them in the first place.

[0] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-hacks-ring-camera-8...

[saagarjha]

> I guess having done AI and security for 20 years means none of this fazes me.

Unfortunately I'd have to guess that many of the people not doing AI and security for 20 years would be considerably more surprised.

[fabrice_d]

Do you also have a good idea of what is recorded when you're at someone else place? Do you ask them to mute their devices?

[dehrmann]

The headline (I blame Bloomberg on this) would be much less clickbaity as "Silicon Valley Records Your Digital Assistant Requests."

[manishsharan]

Remember when you could buy bluetooth speakers that you could listen to without the speaker listening to you ?

Nowadays everyone of my friends has a alexa or google speakers which sound shitty compared to real speakers and they spy on our conversations. For what ? to turn the fucking lights on or play a tune on demand? those lazy dumbasses cant be bothered to get off their butt to turn the lights on ? If only I had privacy conscious friends.

[BLKNSLVR]

So much of the current "home automation" products appear to me to be more parlour tricks than actual automation. Having to ask for something to happen is such a high technological cost for such a tiny change in convenience in the age of already being able to remote control a bunch of stuff with your phone.

There are actual proper home automation products out there, and some of them can interface via these privacy invading microphones masquerading as speakers, but the microphones themselves aren't "home automation" by any useful definition, they're just another alternative remote control.

I wonder if they use the term "smart speaker" because "microphone" just brings up thoughts of Banksy artwork?

[LeftHandPath]

My dad has his whole house wired up with echo dots in every room, voice-activated lights, voice-control TV, and those shitty $100 security cameras in every room.

I've tried to explain why he doesn't need them. His response (about the security cameras) is always, "If there's ever a break in, I'll be glad I have them." The fact that actually using a light switch sets in motion a 20-minute repair via iPad doesn't seem to bother him. He doesn't view the wiretaps as a problem. He (with my mother's help) recently bought a wifi-enabled fridge and kitchen sink.

I love my parents to death, but it's ridiculous. I'm to the point where I usually leave my phone in the next room over when I'm not using it (and please check me in at a psych ward if I ever buy a smart-watch with a cellular connection and an omni-directional microphone). Its beneficial for clarity of thought / lack of distraction as well as for privacy.

Connectivity for connectivity's sake will be the death of freedom.

[sl1ck731]

The same could be said for everything. "Those lazy dumbasses can't be bothered to order a pizza over the phone?", "those lazy dumbasses can't hail a cab themselves?". No need to insult people for making something easier for themselves. It might be turning off the lights for some, but mine saves me a trip down to and through my basement to open my garage door, which is more convenience than 99% of the crap SV is pushing out.

[reddog]

Keep in mind, some people literally can't get off their butts to turn the lights on.

And if you have lost your sight, being able to play a tune on demand via an Echo voice command is a miracle. So is being able to listen to a podcast or audio book. Or being able to ask how old Tom Brady is, how many tablespoons in a quarter cup, what's the weather next week and how far it is between Dallas and Austin.

[newnewpdro]

It's surprising how much convenience and novelty trumps everything else.

[throwawaybcporn]

(I mean this rhetorically, not as an actual insult...)

You're a lazy dumbass who types on a smartphone who can't be bothered to etch it into rock instead.

[drewcon]

Serious question. Why is Alexa on an Echo different than Siri on a phone? Seems like there is clear outrage about “surveillance economy listening devices” (from some members of this community) when they’re in your kitchen but not your pocket? Why is that different?

[mirimir]

It's not that different. Especially for third parties, who don't control the device.

When in others' homes, I typically ask whether there are listening devices. And if so, I request that they be disconnected. And if the host declines, I may leave -- or at least say nothing consequential.

My wife's phone is on 24/7 and almost always within easy reach. So I never say anything consequential, unless it's been moved to the utility closet. Lots of fan noise there.

Edit: From https://blog.cyberwar.nl/2016/02/some-elements-of-intelligen...

> 17. The greatest material curse to the profession, despite all its advantages, is undoubtedly the telephone. It is a constant source of temptation to slackness. And even if you do not use it carelessly yourself, the other fellow, very often will, so in any case, warn him. Always act on the principle that every conversation is listened to, that a call may always give the enemy a line. Naturally, always unplug during confidential conversations. Even better is it to have no phone in your room, or else have it in a box or cupboard.

[Lio]

It’s not. Some of us disable Siri on our phones too.

[im3w1l]

You can disable the assistant on the phone.

[elliekelly]

If I disconnect Siri from the internet she’s still “smart”. Alexa isn’t.

[aaronbrethorst]

Amazon vs. Apple

[dehrmann]

Siri gets to go on field trips.

[louis_pasteur]

"I have nothing to hide wizo geeko, here take this middle finger" is the answer we get when we try to inform people about privacy. Even large scale privacy breaches of sensitive information have had no impact on people's privacy awareness.

[steveeq1]

Whenever they say that, ask them how much money they made last year. When they say "no" ask, "why, do you have anything to hide?".

[aSplash0fDerp]

For those old enough to have heard stories about party line telephone usage, this appears to be the modern version.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_line_(telephony)

As someone mentioned, the money is in localizing many of the cloud services.. Or the modern version of shrink-wrap software, which removes the whole "you're the product" profit motive.

For the casual observer, the ongoing drama of merging your wallet, personal diary, communications, plus other activities and oozing metadata 24/7 is just too tempting for strangers. All of that money for nothing is high stakes nowadays. Caveat emptor...

[squidgy]

Interesting that in a marketplace where seemingly all home speakers on offer have voice assist, Sonos' newest small speaker, the Sonos One SL, is described as "Microphone-free".

[sfRattan]

I chuckle at a 'reassurance' like that one. Mechanically, a speaker is a poorly optimized microphone and a microphone is a poorly optimized speaker.[1]

I don't doubt there are people working for most major governments' intelligence departments who can use malicious software to facilitate listening through a computer connected speaker when surveilling a target (even if that speaker doesn't have an integrated microphone, in a very literal sense it is a microphone).

[1] https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/154343/can-a-sp...

Edit: precision of language

[shadowprofile77]

Not mine. For those stupid or simply indifferent enough to have one of these spying, revolting, idiotically vapid machines in their home and always on, possibly. Better to not even keep a cell phone nearby for really private moments and conversations.

[willis936]

Can I get a pastebin link?

[krackers]

I believe this is the same article, non-paywalled: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-12-11/silicon-v...

[cryptozeus]

I just sold my google home mini for $10...never trusting these devices inside my home anymore

[tekstar]

What changed? As in, what made you think they were okay and then realize they were not?

[kirillzubovsky]

If we are to get technical, Silicon Valley is not listening to your secret, workers in the rest of the country are.

[jonny_eh]

And those workers don't know you.

[rickncliff]

It's unfortunate that this almarmist technophobic slant is considered worthy journalism.

[mirimir]

If they did the voice recognition locally, there wouldn't be a privacy issue. And that would arguably be far cooler technology.

[chillwaves]

If the community did not value this viewpoint, you would not see it on the front page. Perhaps your disdain is misdirected.

[blackflame]

HA! Jokes on them! I don’t have any! Wait...