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A comment on Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protect privacy. Parent comment

Re:Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protec... by withinrafael on Monday January 14, 2019 @01:34PM (#18905161)
> Because it's a literal hardware limitation. The device is built in a way that requires a wake word before any recording can possibly happen [...]

Take note that Amazon Drop In [1] is a feature built around turning on the Echo mic remotely without a wake word. I don't think this feature could exist if there was a hardware limitation.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

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Re:Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protec... by rthille on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @02:34AM (#18909412)
Dropping in causes the Alexa to light up and play a tone, so not exactly stealthy.
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Re:Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protec... by ehsankia on Monday January 14, 2019 @02:15PM (#18905536)
But doesn't the device light up when that happens?
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Re:Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protec... by withinrafael on Monday January 14, 2019 @02:24PM (#18905619)
I was just offering a counter to the hardware limitation claim. It's possible the device makes itself known during use, I haven't used this feature yet.
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Re:Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protec... by jedieaston on Monday January 14, 2019 @03:02PM (#18905959)
And it beeps, and the audio from the other end starts coming through the echo's speaker. There is just about no way to know someone dropped in on you.
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Re:Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protec... by smnrchrds on Monday January 14, 2019 @06:58PM (#18907754)
But is this behaviour implemented in hardware or software?
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Re:Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protec... by withinrafael on Monday January 14, 2019 @08:48PM (#18908247)
This feature is configured via its software.
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Re:Project Alias hacks Amazon Echo and Google Home to protec... by ehsankia on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @07:43PM (#18917259)
My understanding is that the light at the very least was hardware. Sound can be disabled.
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