As the technology craze spreads to the festive season and beyond, many people may have been gifted a super-smart speaker this Christmas.
Making everyday tasks easier, an Amazon Echo comes with a smart Alexa feature that can give updates on the weather or news, and play your favourite tunes, reports the Liverpool Echo. However, tech experts have shared their opinion on smart speakers, and revealed that they may be listening more than they should be.
Experts have warned people to keep their Alexa's downstairs before, but Dr Hannah Fry has said that the speaker should be treated like a guest in the home, and kept out of private areas like the bedroom and bathroom.
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The mathematician and expert on tech company algorithms has stated that the speaker can record conversations. 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.
"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."
Dr Fry asked technology firms to provide data that they had collected on her, and said she found recordings of conversations within her home. She added that 'very senior' people in the tech industry won't even take their phones into their bedroom and buyers should be very wary of low price technology with microphones linked to the internet.
Amazon have previously confirmed that staff listen to customers' conversations through the Alexa feature, stating that the recordings were used to help improve the speakers understanding of human speech Bloomberg released a report suggesting that many users were unaware that humans were listening in, and that staff were each able to review up to 1,000 audio clips a day.
Team members had also shared recordings they had found funny in internal chat rooms. Experts on Forbes technology panel have also shared tips about voice-activated tech that people 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 one percent of voice recordings that get reviewed. For more information related to Alexa and Privacy please see here."
How do I delete voice recordings from my Alexa?
To delete your conversations from the Alexa feature, follow these steps:
Visit the Alexa app and 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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