Amazon removes privacy option, all Alexa recordings will now go to the cloud

[midian182]

A hot potato: Amazon Echo users concerned about their privacy might have something else to worry about on March 28. That's the date when supported devices will lose the option to store and process Alexa requests locally, ensuring that all voice recordings are sent to the cloud.

An email that Amazon sent to customers confirms that the Do Not Send Voice Recordings feature they enabled on supported Echo devices will soon no longer be available.

The message explains that the change is necessary following the introduction of a generative AI-powered version of its popular Alexa assistant last month. Alexa+, powered by large language models from Amazon Bedrock, will be free for all Prime members.

The email states that as Amazon continues to expand Alexa's capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazon's secure cloud, it has decided to no longer support the local storage feature.

Amazon also writes that any previously saved voice recordings will be deleted after March 28.

If voice recording settings are set to "Don't save recordings," Voice ID, the Alexa+ feature that identifies the person speaking, will not work, and users will not be able to create a voice ID for individual users to access more personalized features.

 

The local processing of voice recordings was only available on the Echo Dot (4th Gen), Echo Show 10, and Echo Show 15, and only for customers in the US with devices set to English.

The change is unlikely to be welcomed by users, given Amazon's history in this area. In 2019, Bloomberg reported that the company employed thousands of contractors and full-time workers around the world, "from Boston to Costa Rica, India and Romania," to listen to voice recordings captured by Echo devices. These were transcribed and annotated to improve Alexa's performance, helping it better understand human speech. Workers said they reviewed as many a 1,000 clips per shift.

Amazon-held Alexa recordings have also been sought by law enforcement to be used in criminal trials, including murder cases.

There was also the former Amazon executive who in 2020 said he turns off his Alexa smart speaker whenever he wants a "private moment."

More recently, Amazon agreed to pay $25 million in civil penalties for failing to disclose that it stored recordings of children's interactions with Alexa indefinitely.

Masthead: Jonathan Borba

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Amazon removes privacy option, all Alexa recordings will now go to the cloud

 

[The Talking Tech]

Unfortunately with Trump in power expect more companies to follow.

 

[Thrackerzod]

Still amazes me that people willingly buy these spy devices for their homes.

 

[noel24]

I keep My Samsung TV offline. At night, My phone is in the other room. You'll say I'm crazy, I will say there is "flat earth" crazy, and there is "1984 technology is here" crazy.

 

[Anton Longshot]

This has to be a mistake or fake news.
I'm certain Amazon isn't evil.

Joking!

 

[acrossthestars]

It's kind of funny that Amazon is killing "local-only voice processing" on their devices, given that it was probably instituted as an answer to that massive scandal they had, where people's Echo devices were producing recordings of other people's voice command sessions, and now they've decided that "actually, that scandal was just a precursor of things to come. We were just implementing this change to sate the feelings of the Luddites in the audience. Because, c'mon, if you actually care about your privacy, you wouldn't even own one of these things. So, stop being a technophobe and embrace the future already..." Amazon could choose to make local-only voice processing the default option and have Alexa+ be an opt-in feature, but they aren't doing that, so it should be pretty clear to everyone what their priorities are. It's honestly darkly humorous, that people are alarmed that a device, sold as an internet-based assistant, wouldn't eventually end up in this situation.

Like, if you buy an Amazon Echo and you're #shocked that a device, purpose-built to listen to a specific voice command, actually records almost everything you say while it's microphone waits for the magic, "Hey, A-L-E-X-A" to actually do the thing you bought it for, then...I don't know what to tell you. Do you also think the waiter at the local restaurant is deaf and blind, until they are summoned to serve your table? Because that's not how attention works.

 

[mgwerner]

I keep My Samsung TV offline. At night, My phone is in the other room. You'll say I'm crazy, I will say there is "flat earth" crazy, and there is "1984 technology is here" crazy.

Akūpāra agrees with you completely.

 

[acrossthestars]

I keep My Samsung TV offline. At night, My phone is in the other room. You'll say I'm crazy, I will say there is "flat earth" crazy, and there is "1984 technology is here" crazy.

The problem I've come to realize about 1984 logic, is less that "the device is spying on you" and more that "other people are using the device to spy on you". It would be all well and good if the spyware was manageable, but that's kind of impossible when it's the person next door.

If 99% of the neighborhood uses Ring doorbell cameras and you don't, guess who is more impacted?

 

[New Day]

I keep My Samsung TV offline. At night, My phone is in the other room. You'll say I'm crazy, I will say there is "flat earth" crazy, and there is "1984 technology is here" crazy.

Indeed. I've had this in mind for over twenty years, particularly with mobile phones. Any device, even a wire, can listen.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Unfortunately with Trump in power expect more companies to follow.

Which law has Trump signed that made this possible when it wasn't before?

 

[bandit8623]

Unfortunately with Trump in power expect more companies to follow.

yes they made this change because of trump. how dumb this take is..

 

[ZedRM]

Which law has Trump signed that made this possible when it wasn't before?

The correct answer is: None.

 

[scoffer]

The correct answer is: None.

Whilst I agree with you, I can see the logic of the OP -given the way that Bezos et al techbros were sucking-up to Trump not too long ago. I mean, let's face it, these techbro guys have enormous egos, and could conceivably think that Trump will bow down to them in some way or another.

 

[winatery]

Yes

 

[bandit8623]

Whilst I agree with you, I can see the logic of the OP -given the way that Bezos et al techbros were sucking-up to Trump not too long ago. I mean, let's face it, these techbro guys have enormous egos, and could conceivably think that Trump will bow down to them in some way or another.

which still makes it not a fact. thats not logic. thats what you are guessing the future could hold... has no actual value.
Its the same arguement that trump is rich hes a bad man. guess how many dems are rich? alot as well

 

[airbornex]

So, let me get this straight. Amazon once had people manually listening to our voice recordings, got caught, and now their solution is forcing everything to the cloud? Love the commitment to transparency.

 

[scavengerspc]

The correct answer is: None.

He said "expect more to follow"
Is the word "expect" now complicated for some on the right?

 

[Tantor]

Unfortunately with Trump in power expect more companies to follow.

Trump is far more likely to oppose that crap than Biden. The Democrats have supported every possible tech to repress free speech, obfuscate truth, push propaganda, and invade people's privacy.

Most of the Tech billionaires are Leftist anti-Trumpers. That includes Gates, Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Cook, Bezos, the Koch brothers, etc. Musk is the only one that swings to the right, but he's a truly odd duck. The Tech billionaires are now changing their tune out of fear of Trump, but they would switch back in a second.

Trump is a populist, and that means the 'people' support him. The Left is the domain of the Billionaires. Most Dems are unable to grasp that simple fact.

 

[ZedRM]

He said "expect more to follow"
Is the word "expect" now complicated for some on the right?

You seem to have, once again, lost the thread... Allow me to help you with that.

Which law has Trump signed that made this possible when it wasn't before?

This was said;

The correct answer is: None.

And I responded with this.

Ok? Do you need more help?

 

[Tantor]

Still amazes me that people willingly buy these spy devices for their homes.

Yes, it's amazing.

But your cellphone is the best spy device of all. Everything, and I mean everything you do with your phone is being recorded.

 

[FaTaL]

Amazon has been storing all recordings in cloud for a while now. it even records if you have any device 'mute' enabled.

Only news here is that Amazon made it public.

 

[Liranan]

He said "expect more to follow"
Is the word "expect" now complicated for some on the right?

Proof is so hard to provide by the left when you're too busy having emotional breakdowns.

 

[Liranan]

Still amazes me that people willingly buy these spy devices for their homes.

I keep My Samsung TV offline. At night, My phone is in the other room. You'll say I'm crazy, I will say there is "flat earth" crazy, and there is "1984 technology is here" crazy.

I also have no idea how these people connect even their light bulbs to the internet, absolute madness to me.

 

[Eflow]

Trump is a populist, and that means the 'people' support him. The Left is the domain of the Billionaires. Most Dems are unable to grasp that simple fact.

And yet it was Trump who nominated 13 billionaires into his administration, including the richest man in the world (who happens to want to decimate social security).

If you think Democrats are the party of billionaires, and Republicans are populists, then I have a bridge to sell you.

 

[scavengerspc]

You seem to have, once again, lost the thread... Allow me to help you with that.


This was said;

And I responded with this.

Ok? Do you need more help?

You sir are right. I thought your reference was the post where he said "expect more" in the future. That's on me and I apologize.