Em :official_verified:<p>After Amazon's news this week, <br>I feel the need to share this advice from my Privacy Guides article again:</p><p>Notify guests if you are <br>using a smart speaker 🔇 </p><p>If you are using a smart speaker device in your home such as Amazon's Echo (Alexa), Apple's HomePod (Siri), Google's Nest, </p><p>Inform your guests about it when they enter your home ⚠️</p><p>These devices have the capacity <br>to record all conversations, and there has already been instances of accidental privacy invasion reported about this 🔓</p><p>Even if you don't mind yourself, <br>offer your guests to UNPLUG your smart speaker while they are visiting you 🔌</p><p><a href="https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2025/03/10/the-privacy-of-others/#notify-guests-if-you-are-using-a-smart-speaker" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">privacyguides.org/articles/202</span><span class="invisible">5/03/10/the-privacy-of-others/#notify-guests-if-you-are-using-a-smart-speaker</span></a></p><p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Privacy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Privacy</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/SmartSpeaker" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SmartSpeaker</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Amazon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Amazon</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Alexa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Alexa</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Echo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Echo</span></a></p>
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#amazon
52 posts42 participants9 posts today
@HistoPol@mastodon.social#Privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #Amazon's #Alexa
(3/3)
... felony punishable by a five-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine for a first offense."
//
Source:
https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/15/altering-the-deal/#telescreen
pluralistic.netPluralistic: Amazon annihilates Alexa privacy settings, turns on continuous, nonconsensual audio uploading (15 Mar 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
@HistoPol@mastodon.social#Privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #Amazon's #Alexa
(2/n)
... for a copyrighted work:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/24/record-scratch/#autoenshittification
That means that once Amazon reaches over the air to stir up the guts of your Echo, no one is allowed to give you a tool that will let you get inside your Echo and change the software back. Sure, it's your property, but exercising sole and despotic dominion over it requires breaking the digital lock that controls access to the firmware, and that's a...
pluralistic.netPluralistic: They brick you because they can (24 May 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
@HistoPol@mastodon.social#Privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #Amazon's #Alexa
(1/3)
Amazon annihilates Alexa privacy settings, turns on continuous, nonconsensual audio uploading
Is this globally?
How e. g. in the EU.
US laws don't apply there.
"If the #Echo is your property, how come Amazon gets to break it? Because we passed a law that lets them. Section 1201 of 1998's #DigitalMillenniumCopyrightAct makes it a felony to "bypass an access control"...
https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/15/altering-the-deal/#telescreen
pluralistic.netPluralistic: Amazon annihilates Alexa privacy settings, turns on continuous, nonconsensual audio uploading (15 Mar 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Ars Technica · Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28
If you still use one of these devices, you might want to start looking into alternatives.
"In an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally [...] Starting on March 28, recordings of everything command spoken to the Alexa living in Echo speakers and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud."
Ars Technica · Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28
Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to #Amazon starting on March 28
"Since Amazon announced plans for a generative AI version of Alexa, we were concerned about user privacy. With Alexa+ rolling out to Amazon Echo devices in the coming weeks, we’re getting a clearer view at the privacy concessions people will have to make to maximize usage of the AI voice assistant and avoid bricking functionality of already-purchased devices.
In an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and, therefore, avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon’s cloud. Amazon apparently sent the email to users with “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” enabled on their Echo. Starting on March 28, recordings of everything spoken to the Alexa living in Echo speakers and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud."
Ars Technica · Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28
@dancingdogs@forall.socialNothing short of #outrageous #trashit 
#privacy
#usa #amazon #canada sharing w @404mediaco @pluralistic @eff #data #infosec #ai
Amazon is going to be disabling the privacy feature that processes voice commands locally on Echo devices at the end of this month. Instead, all voice commands will be sent to Amazon's cloud for processing.
I have already followed my own steps to remediate this:
1. Unplug Echo Device
2. Throw Echo Device in Trash
3. Done
https://chow.fan/@mookie/114162820588906022
A Bowl of Fried Ricesteve mookie kong (@mookie@chow.fan)Attached: 1 image
Amazon is going to be disabling the privacy feature that processes voice commands locally on Echo devices at the end of this month. Instead, all voice commands will be sent to Amazon's cloud for processing.
I have already followed my own steps to remediate this:
1. Unplug Echo Device
2. Throw Echo Device in Trash
3. Done
#amazon #echo #privacy
'My wife asked why I carry a gun around the house.
I looked at her and said "Spyware". She laughed, I laughed, Alexa laughed, I shot Alexa, it was a good time."
#Amazon #spyware #Alexa #Echo #HomeAssistant
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/everything-you-say-to-your-echo-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-on-march-28/
Ars Technica · Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28
@trashheap@tech.lgbtA lot of people are talking about throwing #Amazon #Echo devices in the trash this second; in my timeline.
We did this back in February.
Got to say the #HomeAssistant voice boxes are totally usable. A little dumber than Alexa sans a llm, but perfectly adequate if you are like us and mostly just turn smart plugs on and off and check the weather. #HomeAssistantVoice #AmazonEcho #Alexa #Floss
#amazon and the other #broligarchs are so vile
I don't actually believe this report because I suspect all the smart speakers have been smart mic's all along, constantly recording people despite whatever agreements the company asserted.
Like, #tesla's surveillance tech has meant the company has been doing its own constant societal surveillance for years. Data says with the car, sure, but duhhhh I suspect corporate takes it too.