'Alexa' has become a household name for many, with an estimated 130 million Amazon Echo units predicted to be sold by 2025. But are they safe?
Amazon has previously admitted that staff can listen to customers' conversations through the Echo, claiming that the data is used to help improve the device's understanding of human speech. This has led some tech experts like Dr Hannah Fry, a mathematician and expert on tech company algorithms, to advise users to place the devices downstairs and treat them like any other guest in their house, keeping them out of private areas in the home.
The associate professor at University College London told the Liverpool Echo: "I think there are some spaces in your home, like the bedroom and bathroom, which should remain completely private. "This technology is activated by a trigger word but it keeps recording for a short period afterward. People accept that, but we should all spend more time thinking about what it means for us."
After 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.
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 per cent 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 one per cent 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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