Echo Dot/Vanity

[Allen In Texas Hill Country]

A few months back there was a discussion about Echo devices. I did get an Echo Dot for the wife to try and vocally control our DirecTV box. But shes not into it and only uses it for spelling and stuff. Then recently I got an offer for a free Dot. I got it and put it into my office. They both work fine. And then my evening TV viewing went to hell. I watch Alias, Justified, Miamai Vice and stuff off the internet. But now I get continuous freezing. Then a couple of days ago I saw the lights on the router continously flashing. The router was being hammered. The lights on the modem box were not blinking so the internet was not being accessed. Just the router. Out of curiosity I unplugged one of the Dots. The lights stopped flashing. Plugged it back in and lights started flashng again. So I unplugged it and tried viewing off the internet. Back to a normal picture. So now I unplug my Dot in the evening and plug it back in in the morning. This only happens when both Dots are plugged in. I tried to get any answer on a forum to no avail.

https://www.echotalk.org/index.php/topic,5723.msg26249/topicseen.html#msg26249

I thought there was a way to highlight a string and then click a button saying its a URL???? NO???

So anyway I thought I'd ask any Echo users here.

[Allen In Texas Hill Country]

I don't have a smart phone so I don't/can't do app stuff. I used a laptop to get both Dots up and working. Is there any fix for this? Don't mind unplugging one every night.

[z3n]

Then a couple of days ago I saw the lights on the router continously flashing. The router was being hammered

~~~

Don’t worry about the blinky lights on your router. You weren’t supposed to notice the traffic. That’s just the data packets of all the voice recordings the echo did when you were on the phone or talking to people in the house, being uploaded to amazon.

[TexasGunLover]

We have 14 echo devices (echos, dots, spots, shows, etc). Don’t sweat it.

[pnut22]

Yep. You and your spouse will be discussing pot bellied pigs and ads for them will be on every website you open.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Yep. And watching Justified by your Echo is dangerous. Echo don’t know whether it’s you or some actors saying all that subversive stuff. Better add you to the List.

[Red Badger]

[coaster123]

Maybe a higher level perspective of TV and spy devices would benefit.

[usual suspect]

I got an echo dot for christmas. I hooked it up and it began talking to my jail broke Amazon Firestick. Loaded it up with Amazon store, Amazon music...whatever, but it crowded out my movies and television programs. Kept getting messages to delete my apps because no room. Alexa now sits in a box unplugged.

[taxcontrol]

As a security professional, I do not recommend ANY listening devices. I even turn off my phone’s verbal command capability.

[MV=PY]

"As a security professional, I do not recommend ANY listening devices. I even turn off my phone’s verbal command capability."

Ditto. The amount of personal data that consumers are willing to give away in exchange for convenience is unbelievable.

[mkmensinger]

[Brilliant]

I would say that one is malfunctioning. I would figure out which one and ask amazon to replace it.

[Jane Long]

Agree with both of you.

[mass55th]

I even turn off my phone’s verbal command capability.

Ditto here. I have a Kindle Fire but have Alexa turned off. I've never used Siri on my iPhone or MacAir. I don't see the need to tell any device to do what I can do myself. As I said on another thread a while back, unless Siri and Alexa can run to the bathroom for me every hour and empty my bladder without me having to get up to do it, then there's nothing of worth they can offer me.

[tinyowl]

Unplugged my Echo and she's going to the dump. Weather on command and timers and things were convenient, but now that it's unplugged, I feel like it's just me and my cat again in the house ... and I am not a paranoid person by any means. Just having to wonder is bad enough ... it's lurks there in your subconscious as a mild self editing filter, and I think if you have one, you just accept that any loophole around the legalities, plus some not legal loopholes, they are exploiting.

If they can get their fake FISA's on Trump, they can get allowances to collect data for, say, 'protecting the country from Covid outbreak by monitoring mass trends.' They would claim it's sanitized and anonymous but ... I'm in software ... laws and procedures are a thin wall when money and power are there for the grabbin'.

[Texan5]

“ANY listening devices”.

Likewise-both my bro, and a cousin are LEOs-they have some experience with surveillance, so from what I’ve heard from them, I don’t even turn on my phone-and certainly not the GPS on it-unless I need to for work-and certainly no devices are in my home-Alexa, please spy on me...

I drive an old 4x4, so no spying GPS there, either-I prefer to decide who knows where I am...

[Allen In Texas Hill Country]

Thanks for at least one direct possibility. I think what I need to do is get on an Alexa support website and have an online conversation.

And I do appreciate others concerns about privacy.

[desertfreedom765]

The industry calls these devices “Smart Speakers” but what they really are is “Smart Microphones”.

People really are gullible.

[skr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ4AeAFdlSM

[montag813]

We have 14 echo devices (echos, dots, spots, shows, etc). Don’t sweat it.

President AOC and her Atty General Tish James won't sweat the evidence in your 2032 show trial, when you are convicted of 1st Degree White Supremacy, a capital offense. And you are recording that evidence daily for them.