Alexa and other home technology - pros and cons

2018-10-24 11:32:51

Where does Amazon have its servers located? You can think normally otherwise! If you are wrong and your devices you thought were great are not so great anymore, then you become very unobjective. Keep going by yourselves here. The topic is drifting too far away.

I didn't understand what you want to say now? And exactly where am I unobjective now? Arguments have come from me. None from you yet... only "alexa is evil and spies on everyone". So who is objective and unobjective?

2018-10-24 11:55:37

See Cloud Act, see BND affair. Everything that goes overseas is accessible to authorities and is stored. Anyone who believes otherwise is really living under a rock. Even a great delete function in the customer portal won’t change that. Voice commands are processed on US clouds, and that’s that. The data is also publicly used, see court rulings in the USA based on data released from the cloud by court order, which was previously thought not to exist.

Or see the Hue lamps. Those dull things. They have libssl on board and are unpatchable, as open as a barn door. Congratulations, thousands, millions of devices on the net that are vulnerable. But consumers don’t care. And the manufacturer is allowed to keep selling them. Totally crazy stuff. But what can you do in new territory.

Manufacturers of such devices should be required to provide patches for x years, similar to statutory warranty obligations.

2018-10-24 12:00:10

See the Cloud Act, see the BND affair. Everything that goes overseas is accessible to authorities and is stored. Anyone who believes otherwise is seriously living under a rock. A great delete function in the customer portal doesn’t change that. The voice commands are processed on US clouds and that’s that. The data is also publicly used, see rulings in the USA that rely on data handed over from the cloud by court order, data that was previously thought not to exist.

Or see the Hue lamps. Those dumb things. They have libssl on board and are unpatchable, as open as a barn door. Congratulations, thousands, millions of devices on the internet are vulnerable. But consumers don’t care. And the manufacturer is allowed to keep selling them. Totally insane. But what can you do in this new territory.

Manufacturers of such devices should be forced to patch for x years, similar to the statutory warranty obligation.

Wrong topic, fail! The issue was not whether Alexa sends commands home (which it obviously does and must), but whether Alexa "spies," and it demonstrably does not. You can even find this out with a bit of googling.

Quote excerpt (I probably can’t post the entire text here): "........recently the colleagues at WDR also checked: the tiny regular data packets measured by the IT expert in idle mode are just there to check the WLAN connection, otherwise no data transfer takes place."

Not only IT people from WDR have checked this, but various "groups" long before (I even think the CCC... but I’m not sure).

Now I’m curious to see the facts where the opposite was found out...

2018-10-24 12:31:41

Beautiful snapshot. It does not change the fact that externally controllable microphones are installed in the private space. Everything that is possible will eventually be done. That is the point.

2018-10-24 14:21:55

None of you yet... just "alexa is evil and spies on everyone." So who is being factual and who is not?

Did I write "evil"? Or something similar? No, I spoke factually about an open recording device that is connected online and collects data on Amazon’s servers, which are located in the USA. Even if the user deletes them – Amazon denies this but remains very reserved with further information. Regarding arguments: I don’t need any. I am not in a defensive mode towards you. I just told you that you are wrong with your thinking. Ultimately, I don’t care what you install in your house. And no, I don’t believe in conspiracy theories.

2018-10-24 15:06:12

If Google listens 100% on your phone and sends you ads based on that, do you seriously believe that Amazon Alexa doesn't do the same? And if the data can be used for advertising, it can also be used for everything else or stored forever.

If someone wants/has something like that, they should at least not be as naive as you and just accept it. Then there is nothing against its use.

But everything else is "I'm painting my world how I like it."

Alexa and other home technology - pros and cons

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