Alexa is listening to you - Amazon privacy

Yes, Alexa is listening to you ... and as some of you already know, I’m a big fan of voice assistants and home automation. I’ve done several videos on Amazon, Google, and Siri, as well as use all of them pretty much every day. That is ... until now. This has been a long time coming, but I’m sorry Amazon ... it’s time for us to go our separate ways. Why? Let’s get into it.

Full script and citations:

Sonos One:

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▶ ▶ ▶ ADDITIONAL VIDEOS ◀ ◀ ◀

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▻ Siri vs. Google Assistant vs. Alexa

▻ Home Automation Playlist

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▻ Audio file(s) provided by Epidemic Sound

[blankblank]

We were born without Alexa and Siri yet people act like these things are a necessity.

I am PERSONALLY UNCOMFORTABLE with these 3rd party devices recording all my personal conversations.

[annetteslife]

I will continue with the old fashioned way. No Alexa for me

[doubtingthomas]

😂 They'll get bored to f### listening to mine, I live on my own and haven't started talking to myself yet... plus, I only use it to ask the time or use it to time my pizza! ... I suppose I might get adverts for clocks and watches! 🤔😀😂

[ChaoticThinking]

Lmao, you trust Google with your privacy, that is an oxymoron. I don't trust any of these companys with my privacy regardless of how they SAY they handle it ... You either accept the risk or choose to go with out. To say you chose one over the other because of privacy concerns is suspect at best.


As far as the second reason you chose to switch ... never really had an issue with my Echo understanding me on a daily basis. And as far as features you described that you get with the G Home Hub, yea its called an Echo Show ... seemed like bias advertisement to me, lol, jk.


Either way, good video Matt!

[HanzHermannHoppe]

Excellent coverage of some important aspects of voice assistant data privacy. Hopefully this will encourage the industry to trend towards transparency and personal ownership of user data.

[TheRnwood]

I ditched Facebook after years of using their platform due to their business practices. If Amazon decides to not get its shit together Alexa may be next. I must point out as well that I also break up with any subsidiary companies that they may own as well, when I do decide to burn a bridge.

[somemovingpictures]

The Amazon products have always worked better for me. I spent a year with Echo Dot/ Google Home Mini combinations in four different locations in my home and Alexa won hands down when it came to both voice control of smart devices and playing requested music. Google seemed to "know" a bit more when questioned but it appears to me as though the gap in knowledge between the two is narrowing. I really don't care about who might hear me say "Alexa, good morning" or "Alexa, good night" a thousand times to run daily routines. And, I have made a habit of deleting all my recordings on a fairly regular basis. Now, if I can just keep myself from saying "Alexa, my Social Security number is ###-##-####, " I think I'll be okay.

[andrewlamorte]

I am saddened by the apparent compulsion to use and trust these devices - is it laziness? Gullibility? Is your life really better because of the money spent on these technologies? I hear so many complaints - it is clearly common for them to misunderstand and frustrate users, and now scary that they are harvesting data, so much is now known about YOU. I get along just fine with no smart device, no wi-fi, no wired home, no doorbell cameras, no microphones, just the internet; and I get news and read articles and continue learning EVERY DAY. I am not a slave to modern gadgets, and I shake my head thinking about the money people spend monthly for these things!

Oh, if I had a penny each month for each 'smartphone' just from the people in my county, I'd be very very rich! It's no wonder the phone companies push plans with four phones - it is SO PROFITABLE it's criminal.

[Muonium]

I have never seen a compelling reason to own any of these products. I've used them at other people's houses and once on my phone when it was initially set up (disabled shortly thereafter). It's a mildly amusing novelty at best for about 10 minutes and then just another unnecessary and profligate bauble. I'm mainly just impressed with the underlying voice recognition technology that's recently been solved with deep learning. 20 years ago it seemed an utterly intractable problem requiring huge computational power and delivering invariably abysmal accuracy. Now, it's become so unbelievably accurate I turn it on in youtube sometimes when *I* can't tell what's being said and it frequently helps accurately fill in gaps I can't even discern. Now if only they could do something about the still very atrocious state of language translation.

[father]

The ring camera is whatever. Wanna stare at my front lawn? Have at it

[businessreform]

Great video. I used to have 7 Amazon echos in my home but I am now down to just 1 and it is in my garage. Inside of my house I am now 100% Apple products as I trust Siri a LOT more than Google or Amazon (and you couldn't pay me enough to put a Facebook Portal in my home).

[Theresabrown]

I'm happy to be old school I like to do thing things the old fashioned way I don't want to be snooped on by Amazon, Google or any other apps or assistants.

[sabrinalewis]

Its gonna be a no 4 barely trust social why I dont post personal stuff anymore

[CrazyWillTechShow]

It just doesn’t bother me. There’s so many people using it that I don’t think it matters. I’m just not that interesting. But I do see your Point.

[baronvonlimbourgh]

At least some people are seeing the madness it really is.
Edit: Hmmm, seems i have spoken to soon..

[thepeacemaker]

We should go back to old school. Get rid of all smart wifi items from your home.

[baruchben-david]

Alexa... It's not me, it's you...

[adobenumpty]

I was talking to my wife about lemon drizzle cake yesterday and by the end of that conversation our Amazon show was suggesting recipes for Lemon drizzle cake. Be nice if this was a one off event but sadly no. Time for Amazons devices to go in our house.

[adamguymon]

Can the cops listen to you through Alexa if you unplug it? I know I was told that even if you turn your phone off the cops or government can still listen to what you are saying. If your smart/cell phone can still listen to you or someone else still can spy on you can that still happen even if you remove the power from the back of the Alexa mini smart speaker?

[dolfijnflorentijn]

If amazon wannna listen to me I really don’t care