Amazon Echo Flex: Microphone mute button appears to be real and functional

Re:Amazon Echo Flex: Microphone mute button appears to be re... by StavrosK on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @09:40AM (#25747447)

> I have a HomePod that I have to manually press the touch button on top for it to listen

What's the difference? You trust it not to listen without the button press, I trust it to not listen without the wake word. To think that the distinction is meaningful is wishful thinking.

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Re:Amazon Echo Flex: Microphone mute button appears to be re... by dunnevens on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @10:30AM (#25748099)

It's kinda meaningful. Wake words can be sometimes triggered by accident. Or by things like that commercial from a few years ago. A physical button press avoids all that.

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Re:Amazon Echo Flex: Microphone mute button appears to be re... by thebean11 on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @02:35PM (#25752244)

So the worry is that it will be triggered accidentally and hear something you didn't intend it to, then that tiny, rarely occurring piece of data will be used against you?

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Re:Amazon Echo Flex: Microphone mute button appears to be re... by ballenf on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @01:47PM (#25751482)

I just see listening for a trigger word as surveillance. Your (and your guests) every word is analyzed and at least temporarily saved somewhere outside your control.

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Re:Amazon Echo Flex: Microphone mute button appears to be re... by StavrosK on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @05:42PM (#25755011)

It's analyzed on the device, which is not outside your control. Besides, how do you know the same isn't true of the physical button?

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