Posted on 02/23/2020 4:38:05 PM PST by ransomnote
Have you ever wondered how often your smart speaker accidentally activates itself? A study from Northeastern University tried to find out.
No one likes it when a stranger butts into their conversation.
Especially when they interrupt with some astonishing non-sequitur.
You're watching TV and chatting about the painfully demanding couple on House Hunters International when a distant voice pipes up: "The circumference of the Earth is 24,901 miles."
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It's Apple's Siri, of course. Or Amazon's Alexa. Or whatever you call your Google Home person.
I suspect you pass off these apparent accidents as merely one of those things. Yet, as a new study from Northeastern University reveals, they're one of those things that may happen with alarming regularity.
The study estimates that activations of smart speakers when it wasn't you who uttered any wake word occur between 1.5 and 19 times a day.
More entertainingly, the average time of activation is 43 seconds, which means that 43 seconds of your conversations might be recorded by the kindly souls at Smart Speaker HQ.
At first this sounded like AOC snooping 19x per day.
Why anyone would have this is mind boggling.
Bump
Loss of privacy will be a huge political issue.........and soon !
A ‘puter is no different.
Your computer records far far more.
LOL!
Because 18 isn’t quite enough, but 20 is way too many
I have no need for the crap.
I can turn on my own damn lights, lock my door, turn up the heat as I damn please.
I'm not a Luddite, but I don't need nor want that crap.
If there is somebody waiting for me to say something that sounds like Alexa or wants to know when I ask it to remind me about Laundry or Beef Stew, more power to them. I guess I’m just not as interesting as the rest of the world.
LOL. That saves me the trouble.
( : >)
Mitt Romney consults Siri in 2012:
Mitt: Siri, find me a running mate.
Siri: A boxer would make an excellent jogging companion.
Mitt: No, I meant find me a vice presidential nominee to add to the ticket.
Siri: Oh, well why didn’t you say so? Most qualified vice presidential candidates are: Dan Quayle, Albert Gore, Jr., Richard Cheney, Joseph Biden...
Mitt: NO! I need somebody fresh and exciting.
Siri: Like Sarah Palin?
Mitt: No, no, no! It needs to be someone less charismatic than I am.
Siri: Oh, crap. Maybe you should try a funeral director.
Mitt: Siri, there has got to be someone who can be loyal, faithful, eager to follow me anywhere without asking any questions, one who can do as he’s told...
Siri: A boxer would make an excellent jogging companion.
The computer records live conversations on its own?
It only records the line of speech following the “wake word.” However, that wake word can come from any source within earshot. You can see everything it records by going to the Alexa app in your phone and looking at the command history.
If you think Alexa is recording everything you say, then I have the address for a tin foil hat shop that may have just what you’re looking for.
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