The Privacy Compromise Amazon Listens to You — What Does That Really Mean
Millions of homes across the globe have some version of Amazon’s Echo digital assistant. There’s the standard Echo, the Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Show, and Echo Spot. Echo has even been integrated into refrigerators, microwaves, and other appliances. It’s seems like the lineup gets larger every year. But are we putting too much trust in these digital assistants? We all know these devices are listening. Echo recognizes its name, whether you call it Alexa, Amazon, Echo, or Computer, as a “wake word.” Once it’s “awake,” it will answer any question you ask it. But what does it hear beyond what you ask it directly? This is a question that has security and privacy experts concerned. Major companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook thrive on the data they collect. Facebook is worth as much as it is because of its monetized user data, and a huge portion of Facebook’s business model involves selling its users’ data to other companies. It comes down to this: If an online service is free, you are the product. With the Echo, once you speak the “wake word” (usually “Alexa”), everything you say is shared with Amazon. The company uses this data for several things. For one, it compiles user data to make Alexa’s responses better. But it also uses your data to target products to you that you’ll be more likely to buy, preferably through Amazon. The effect is similar to using your browser to shop on Amazon or using an Amazon-branded credit card. Everything you do on their website and everything you buy with an Amazon card is tracked: the company builds a profile for you and your likes. The same can be said for Google and Facebook.
The bottom line is that if you are concerned about your privacy and want complete control, you will want to keep digital assistants like Echo out of your home. Every time you fire up
Amazon, Facebook, or Google — or use their service or app — you are being tracked. This might mean location tracking, your
shopping preferences, the posts you read, etc. That’s part of the deal: It’s free, and you give up your privacy in exchange. You consent to have your personal data mined. When it comes to the Echo, Amazon explicitly states they do not sell your data to third parties. The company says they only use this data internally; they say it’s secure — and so far, that’s technically true. But there have been reports of “malfunctions.” If you do have a digital home assistant like the Echo or you use these kinds of services on your smartphone, you can set your privacy and security options pretty much however you want. In the end, you do have some control over your privacy with a digital assistant, but as long as one of them is in your home, that control — and your privacy — will never be at 100 percent.
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