Do you use Amazon Alexa home speakers? Then you would have probably experienced some creepy things. If not, after reading this, you will think twice using Alexa home speakers. You may think what so creepy! It secretly recorded private conversation of the couple and sent to some other person. Yes. You read it right. Alexa was also caught laughing creepily in the background. Let’s get the news to know what happened.
Amazon Echo Speakers
Amazon’s Alexa recorded the private conversation of a Portland-based couple in the US and then sent that recording to someone else in the family’s contact list. Kiro 7, a local news station in Portland, Oregon in the US reported this incident. Responding to the report that Alexa was allegedly spying on the private conversation of the user, Amazon said this was an extremely rare event.
The Portland-based couple came to know only after their colleague in Seattle received the audio file. After confirming the audio file was indeed a recording of their private conversation, the family went on to unplug all of their Alexa-powered devices. You can use Amazon Echo speakers to control the home’s smart functions like heating, lighting, security system. The common feature of many of these home speakers is controlling smart home functions.
“I felt invaded…A total privacy invasion. Immediately I said, ‘I’m never plugging that device in again, because I can’t trust it,” Danielle told Kiro 7 news.
Amazon engineer went through their logs and apologized for the issue. Amazon further said that this was an extremely rare occurrence and it was investigating the incident.
Amazon’s Response
“We are taking steps to avoid this from happening in the future,” said the statement to the news station.
However, in a more detailed statement, the company has said that Voice-controlled speakers can get tricky. Echo woke up as it heard similar to Alexa. “Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a “send a message” request. At which point, Alexa said out loud “To whom?” At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customer’s contact list,”
However, the Portland couple said that they didn’t give any such confirmation.
Amazon insists this is a rare event. However, recording of a private conversation between a couple is raising questions about the privacy of using these home speakers.
Amazon Alexa’s Creepy Laugh
This is not the first time that Amazon Alexa and Echo speakers are in news. Previously Alexa and Echo speakers were in the news for laughing randomly even when no particular command was given. Alexa was laughing creepily in the background and many were scared by the same. Amazon had admitted the problem, and said it would roll out a fix for the same. The company said it would disable the phrase “Alexa, laugh” and instead change the command to “Alexa, can you laugh?” to ensure less false positives.
But with the latest case of Alexa recording and then sending a private conversation without user’s knowledge, users are afraid of using home speakers. And, Amazon is yet to clarify this. Amazon Echo speaker quietly recording its owners and then sharing those recordings is shocking and scaring many people. This incident raised privacy concerns of voice-assistant devices, like the Echo. Users keep these devices in living rooms and kitchens.
Even though Amazon claims that they are only supposed to be activated when the “Alexa” command word is triggered but it is capable of listening to private conversations. Do you use Amazon echo speakers? If so, one simple solution is don’t set up the Echo speaker to make calls. What is your view on this? Share us in the comments. In case, if you want to check out Amazon new headphones, then read here.
