there are a growing number of people who freely choose alternatives that respect their privacy/dignity/rights. i am one of those people. to the extent i can't control all data about me (e.g. to pay my taxes or get health insurance), that's pretty different than choosing to buy a consumer device designed to record and transmit your voice from inside of your home.
my choices don't necessarily make me feel more secure--just was pointing out that not everyone is already trusting major tech companies with all of their data all of the time.
alternatives that better respect my privacy/rights/autonomy really do exist and people really do have choices. these choices are getting easier to make all the time, too, e.g. owncloud.
BUT, those are two devices that would have full capabilities to do so if they really wanted to.
The point is, we trust (or do not) that these services that have access to sensitive information -- are only doing what they CLAIM they are doing with regards to privacy.
As GP said, you're trusting that it doesn't.
I run my own mail server (although i hate having to email people @gmail.com etc) and i only store my emails locally. I don't use dropbox, i don't use cloud storage providers at all. When I have to upload things, I encrypt them first. I run almost everything through TOR, that includes all my web-browsing on my phone even.
There are a thousand ways that data can be collected about you these days given the technology we use, but I like to think i do a reasonable job at avoiding all of the bulk of them though. Nothing is perfect, but i'll be damned if i'm going to make it easy for anyone.
A lot of people have their own elaborate personal mail setups.
we store sensitive files etc on services like dropbox
A lot of people do not, and it is absolutely trivial not to (unlike say, being totally independent of webmail providers).
we trust that our operating systems aren't collecting/sending data
Trust is not created equal. For example, it is not a stretch at all for someone to think that OpenBSD is more trustworthy than Windows when it comes to security and privacy, and to sleep well at night with reasonable confidence as to the validity of that assertion.
I am asserting my belief that a large majority of people who voice privacy concerns over things like amazon echo are the same people who do in fact use many cloud services. I find it to be ironic if my assertion is true.
Furthermore, I think it all comes down to our perception, and our perception does not accurately reflect "potential to be misused". Our perception is that gmail, dropbox, facebook, apps which store data, etc. are all relatively low threat. However a device that is marketed to record our voices in our homes is perceive to be high threat. In reality though, the "potential to be misused" is present in ALL times we trust a 3rd party with access to our information, or even the potential ability to access our information, or cameras, or recording devices (including phones and laptops).
So like I said, it comes down to trust. Trust amazon or don't. Trust dropbox or don't. Trust your smartphones, or don't. Potential to be misused is equal among ANYTHING that has listening or recording capabilities built in to it.
We all trust our e-mail to be stored in the cloud, we store sensitive files etc on services like dropbox, we trust that our operating systems aren't collecting/sending data, etc.
You're already using and relying upon MANY services with the ability (if they really wanted to) to steal TONS of private information from you.
It all comes down to trust. But don't pretend like this opens up some new door for privacy concerns.
Ex. If Apple wanted to, they could watch us through our macbook cameras and listen to us all the time. But we trust that they don't. Same thing here.