Alexa, delete everything I said today

[AppDefects]

Privacy settings for a digital assistant? What a novel idea! Starting today there are new privacy controls over what Alexa can hear. You can even manage "your" voice recordings from the app.

Ps. this is in no means a product endorsement. 

[rslade]

OK, I really like your postscript  🙂

Question: when you ask Alexa to delete everything you said, does it really?

[AppDefects]

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@rslade wrote:

OK, I really like your postscript  🙂

Question: when you ask Alexa to delete everything you said, does it really?

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Ah, the Right to Be Forgotten and the promise of GDPR. Imagine the engineering that has to go into scrubbing data that is replicated across global data centers. Maybe over time those digital remnants would disappear without a trace, but it does continue to snow in Nunavut (a territory in Canada)...

[denbesten]

That made the US national news last night.  The anchor even jokingly apologized for erasing everyone's data since the story included the complete phrase, including the wake word.  

Made me wonder if anyone else thought about the implications of the anchor saying "Alexa, buy Ben Malisow's book", or "Alexa, cast my vote for George Washington for president".

[dcontesti]

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@AppDefects wrote:

Ps. this is in no means a product endorsement. 

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My son bought me one of these products and the silly thing talks every time someone on the television says it's name.....scared me and wondered why I was getting directions to the local Walmart LOL......

[Steve-Wilme]

Ours responds when we ask the dog if it wants to go walkies?  Since when did Walkies sound like Alexa!

[Chuxing]

For someone knowing information security for too looooong, I have developed a paranoia syndrome. So I  want as few of those 'smart' things in my home as possible!  (For one thing, they make me feel old and dumb)

I have this voice in my head frequently (told you I have paranoia disorder) that we are using a lot technologies without knowing half the pictures of what the full consequences are.

Alexa, stop listen to me, and wipe that grin off your face ... I know you are watching me all the time....

[rslade]

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@dcontesti wrote:

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My son bought me one of these products and the silly thing talks every time someone on the television says it's name.....scared me and wondered why I was getting directions to the local Walmart LOL......

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Number One Daughter has one.  It was a bit odd to hear her suddenly saying "[name of home assistant], I need toilet paper," and the system would respond, "OK, I'll add that to your shopping list."

This is why it's not safe to have me on teams designing/building consumer products.  If I had been working on a home assistant, when you said, "I need toilet paper," the system would randomly respond with, "what are you telling me for?"

[rslade]

> Steve-Wilme (Contributor I) posted a new reply in GDPR on 05-31-2019 07:03 AM in

> Ours responds when we ask the dog if it wants to go walkies?  Since when did
> Walkies sound like Alexa!    

And since when does Alexa want to go walkies ... ?

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[rslade]

> Chuxing (Community Champion) posted a new reply in GDPR on 05-31-2019 09:41 AM

> I  want as few of those 'smart' things in my home as
> possible!

We have only three "smart" things in the house. Our two phones, and the TV.
(The kids gave us the TV. I'm afraid I was less than gracious about it.) We never
have told the TV the password for the wifi. (I'm also fairly sure that it's cheap
enough that it doesn't have a camera or microphone.)

>  (For one thing, they make me feel old and dumb)

As I have frequently said, I hate machines that think they are smarter than I am.
(I know that I'll have problems if we ever get a self-driving car, even though I
know it'll be a better and safer driver than I am. But our current car is 20 years
old, so we're safe on that score for a while.)

>   I have this voice
> in my head frequently (told you I have paranoia disorder) that we are using a
> lot technologies without knowing half the pictures of what the full consequences
> are.

The voice in your head has some good opinions ...

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