Or, at least, marketers & data brokers ARE out to get your data & sell it. News on 'Active Listening' on your phone and those pesky, tedious app T&Cs we mostly don't read. (audio; 5:30)
Right, Christine - so many folks have felt like Apple's been one of the more trustworthy companies out there with regard to protecting privacy of our data. This kind of behavior is a poisoned apple. No wonder so many people distrust tech companies nowadays. They're not wrong!
They really aren’t—but this is something so blatantly obvious that it’s almost laughable. Why aren’t they enough safeguards to prevent this behavior from happening by now? One of my mutuals on LinkedIn is kinda an expert on this, I’m going to ask for her feedback on it.
Great idea - I'd love to hear what she thinks! What gets me is: This isn't an 'oops' data leakage. Using Siri to capture conversations and then sell them to advertisers doesn't just happen by accident. Someone inside Apple had to plan and prioritize that capability as a secret feature. Someone else had to build it and create infrastructure and test it. Someone else had to execute on the sales. It was intentional. And unethical. Kudos to whoever blew the whistle on it. Shame on everyone who didn't.
Hint hint, check LinkedIn 🤭 and oh definitely, this was done intentionally. I once went down a rabbit hole of surveillance pricing and the FTC’s recent investigation into it and wondered if they did the same thing (instead of just using browsing history but turned the mic on 🎤 in this case also to be able to give “discounts” accordingly). Maybe it’s just a tin hat on my head, but truth is stranger than fiction.
Ha, very timely. Privacy seems to be under attack like never before.
I use Alexa for exactly two functions: (1) a voice-controlled alarm clock / timer, and (2) a list-keeper. The convenience of shouting "Alexa, add Oyster Sauce to my shopping list" WHILE you are cooking and have the almost-empty bottle in hand, is difficult to beat.
I have long used Home Assistant (homeassistant.io) for cloudless home automation. They recently added support for local voice assistants, where all processing is done locally. I already have the hardware, and replacing Alexa with a private assistant is about three projects down my to-do list.
Their options include building the assistant into an old landline phone. So you have to pick up the receiver to talk to it, and you have the assurance that there is nothing listening all the time.
This sounds icky. Very icky indeed. Great post, thank you for the insight!
Right, Christine - so many folks have felt like Apple's been one of the more trustworthy companies out there with regard to protecting privacy of our data. This kind of behavior is a poisoned apple. No wonder so many people distrust tech companies nowadays. They're not wrong!
They really aren’t—but this is something so blatantly obvious that it’s almost laughable. Why aren’t they enough safeguards to prevent this behavior from happening by now? One of my mutuals on LinkedIn is kinda an expert on this, I’m going to ask for her feedback on it.
Great idea - I'd love to hear what she thinks! What gets me is: This isn't an 'oops' data leakage. Using Siri to capture conversations and then sell them to advertisers doesn't just happen by accident. Someone inside Apple had to plan and prioritize that capability as a secret feature. Someone else had to build it and create infrastructure and test it. Someone else had to execute on the sales. It was intentional. And unethical. Kudos to whoever blew the whistle on it. Shame on everyone who didn't.
Hint hint, check LinkedIn 🤭 and oh definitely, this was done intentionally. I once went down a rabbit hole of surveillance pricing and the FTC’s recent investigation into it and wondered if they did the same thing (instead of just using browsing history but turned the mic on 🎤 in this case also to be able to give “discounts” accordingly). Maybe it’s just a tin hat on my head, but truth is stranger than fiction.
Ha, very timely. Privacy seems to be under attack like never before.
I use Alexa for exactly two functions: (1) a voice-controlled alarm clock / timer, and (2) a list-keeper. The convenience of shouting "Alexa, add Oyster Sauce to my shopping list" WHILE you are cooking and have the almost-empty bottle in hand, is difficult to beat.
I have long used Home Assistant (homeassistant.io) for cloudless home automation. They recently added support for local voice assistants, where all processing is done locally. I already have the hardware, and replacing Alexa with a private assistant is about three projects down my to-do list.
Their options include building the assistant into an old landline phone. So you have to pick up the receiver to talk to it, and you have the assurance that there is nothing listening all the time.
Home Assistant sounds cool, especially with cloudless voice control!