Google employees are listening to Google Home conversations

Re:Google employees are listening to Google Home conversations by a3n on Wednesday July 10, 2019 @04:35PM (#20406252)

I won't have one either. Well, I have my Android, which I guess is essentially the same.

I was visiting my neighbor the other day. We were wondering something about special counsel mueller, and she decided to ask Alexa. This was new, and I was surprised she had this surveillance device, but I didn't say anything.

There was some back and forth, then I said to her "I think you're ordering motor oil "

"Alexa, stop! Alexa, stop!" As if a dog was chewing on the furniture.

And now Amazon knows that I was discussing politics, and my opinion. That kind of analyzed data is going to be lucrative in some future military or law enforcement or political contract.

Rule 1. Don't leave money on the table.

Rule 2. Ever.

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Re:Google employees are listening to Google Home conversations by blacksmith_tb on Wednesday July 10, 2019 @05:07PM (#20406561)

Do they know it was you, specifically? I would say they know your neighbor was talking with someone else, and possibly that politics were being discussed (not really something they seem to have put a lot of effort into recognizing, since it doesn't lead to shopping...) If you're interacting with an Echo or gHome you can always ask it "who am I?" GOOG is sneaky enough to recognize you on any other device, Alexa, not so much (and in this case you shouldn't be on their radar to being with).

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Re:Google employees are listening to Google Home conversations by WalterBright on Wednesday July 10, 2019 @06:11PM (#20407132)

> Do they know it was you, specifically?

Maybe not with today's technology, but in the future, they will still have the recording and will have the technology.

It's the same thing with encryption. It's safe today, but in the future it'll be decodeable, and they'll still have the encrypted copies to work on.

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Re:Google employees are listening to Google Home conversations by a3n on Wednesday July 10, 2019 @10:36PM (#20408667)

What WalterBright says below.

They can eventually know who I am by voice recognition, especially they can get corroboration by the fact that we live in the same building.

I imagine we probably said something that would suggest I live nearby (... "Checking database" ...) or that I'm a regular visitor (... "Checking database." ...).

They could be sending an inaudible tone, to be captured by an app on my phone. I don't have an Amazon app, but some other app might capture the tone and sell that fact to Amazon, so that they don't leave money on the table.

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Re:Google employees are listening to Google Home conversations by gooberwonder on Wednesday July 10, 2019 @05:00PM (#20406500)

Are there microphone-blocking phone cases? All I can really find is https://www.privacycase.com/, and it seems like overkill.

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