If Santa brought you an Alexa this Christmas then an expert warns that you should carefully consider where you place the device. While the automated voice in the corner can be helpful, especially if you are trying to settle a dispute, seeking out a weather forecast or tapping into your playlist, the little box of magic can also be learning from you. Or at least listening in to your private conversations.
For this very reason, some tech experts have issued a warning, saying only keep your smart speaker in your most public rooms. One expert, Dr Hannah Fry, said the digital assistant should be treated the same as other guests in your home and kept out of private areas and that includes the bedroom and bathroom.
Dr Fry, who is a mathematician and expert on tech company algorithms, said the technology can record conversations. Reported by the Liverpool Echo, the associate professor at University College London said: "I think there are some spaces in your home, like the bedroom and bathroom, which should remain completely private.
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The expert added: "This technology is activated by a trigger word but it keeps recording for a short period afterwards. People accept that, but we should all spend more time thinking about what it means for us."
Researching the topic further, Dr Fry asked tech firms to provide the data they had collected on her. She said she found recordings of conversations taken from within her home. She added that 'very senior' people in the tech industry won't even take a smartphone into their bedroom and buyers should be very wary of low price technology with microphones linked to the internet.
Amazon previously admitted staff listen to customers' conversations through Alexa, stating the recordings were used to help improve the Echo device’s understanding of human speech. A report by news site Bloomberg suggested many users are unaware humans are listening in, with staff each able to review up to 1,000 audio clips a day.
Teams had also shared recordings they found funny in internal chat rooms. Experts on Forbs tech panel also shared tips about voice-activated tech that users should be aware of.
Carolyn Jenkins, from EPSoft Technologies, said: "Voice-activated tech is a tool, and like any tool, it can be used well or badly. Start by understanding the privacy and security settings available in the voice tech you are using, as well as the data retention policies of the company supplying the tech. Presume everything you say is being listened to and recorded, and adjust the settings you can from there until you are comfortable. "
Brad Thomas, from Prophecy International, said: "These technologies are great time-savers and make life easier, but they also make it easy to inadvertently share private information without thinking. These devices are always on, collecting data about you and your habits to better provide services - but there is no filter, and they simply collect it all. This makes it too easy to share private data with big tech that you did not intend to share."
A spokesperson for Amazon said: "Echo devices are designed to record audio only after the device detects your chosen wake word (Alexa, Amazon, Echo, Ziggy or Computer). Customers will always know when Alexa is sending your request to the cloud because a blue light indicator will appear on your Echo device.
"We manually review only a small fraction of one percent of Alexa requests to help improve Alexa. Access to these review tools is only granted to a limited number of employees who require them to improve the service. Our review process does not associate voice recordings with any customer identifiable information.
"Customers can also easily opt-out of having their voice recordings included in the fraction of 1% of voice recordings that get reviewed. For more information related to Alexa and Privacy please see here."
To delete Alexa conversations, visit the Alexa app, go to Settings > Alexa Privacy > Manage Your Alexa Data. From here, select Choose How Long to Save Recordings > Don't Save Recordings > Confirm. Next, scroll down to Help Improve Alexa, and switch the Use of Voice Recordings to off.
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