Yes, it’s ultimately trust in the device maker, the compiler, the chip manufacturer, etc, and those can and have been verified to some extent.
But that’s not the point. A phone can listen or not, where you have no doubt with the cylinder. It’s its raison d'etre.
And people know this. It’s not like they are being misled. It’s a conscious exchange of privacy for convinence. It’s just that, in my mind, you are getting very little for what you’re giving.
I made a different choice, but I totally understand why someone would choose not to have a phone or smart speaker due to privacy concerns. What I don’t get is someone who has a phone but sees smart speakers as crazy.
- You are pretty certain that your phone is listening at all times, even though it's set not to.
- You see no difference between a product that's advertised manly as a listening device and one that also has such a feature, that can theoretically be turned off, and is very useful otherwise.
I see no difference, privacy-wise, between the two. I don’t care how they’re advertised, I care what they’re capable of.
I'm sure you can appreciate the difference: press a button to talk to Siri vs Siri is always listening.
The latter seems crazy to me, on a phone, cylinder, laptop or whatever device it's implemented.
If that was the case, nothing. But we have enough evidence to believe it's not. While having the device listen, even though it's been explicitly configured not to, is a bit more of a stretch.
>Are you just worried about accidental activation?
That could be an inconvenience too, but I'm more concerned with malicious intent.
If you’re concerned with malicious intent then I really don’t understand the difference. If the device maker is trustworthy then you’re fine either way. If they’re malicious then you’re screwed either way. A setting for “please don’t listen” isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference if they’re malicious. M
Nor should anyone I think.
It seems to me that smartphones are significantly worse. You can unplug your smart speaker or kick it off your WiFi and be confident that it can no longer hear you. Smartphones have batteries and cellular data connections. Also they’re usually with you at all times, even when you’re away from home.
A lot of people talk about it, they’re just laughed or shouted down. There’s also the argument that mobile phones undoubtedly offer a number of incredibly useful tools, not the least of which is a primary phone line. I think anyone would be hard pressed to argue for commensurate utility from Alexa or similar products.
“Networked device with microphone records and uploads your voice” might create reactions such as: yeah, what did you expect, how else would it work?
“Networked device with microphone records and uploads your voice even when explicitly told not to” is a lot worse. Company X is lying to us!
My guess is they mostly do work that way but bugs and vulnerabilities don't seem like a stretch. (As is to be expected with all software)
The whole point of these cylinders is to be listening at all times.