Stormborn15 Posted July 23, 2018 Posted July 23, 2018 Not sure if in right place - a teacher at school has asked to hook up an Amazon Echo to the school wifi to be able to use Alexa. 1) It won't be allowed out without proxy settings and don't think the Echo allows for that? 2) How GDPR safe is it to allow this to be used in a classroom setting? ( 'But I only want to use it for a few hours on last day of school' some sort of quiz for the last day? Thoughts please?
sted Posted July 23, 2018 Posted July 23, 2018 i doubt they do proxy i expect it to keep a log of everything its heard all day so it will probably be full of names and depending on the teacher and where its placed usernames/passwords/phone numbers theyve muttered to themselves so probably a can of worms not worth opening 1
DGardiner Posted July 23, 2018 Posted July 23, 2018 i doubt they do proxy i expect it to keep a log of everything its heard all day so it will probably be full of names and depending on the teacher and where its placed usernames/passwords/phone numbers theyve muttered to themselves so probably a can of worms not worth opening nah, the system only activates when the activation phrase is heard - theres alot of technical crap online explaining how it works. 1
sparkeh Posted July 23, 2018 Posted July 23, 2018 nah, the system only activates when the activation phrase is heard - theres alot of technical crap online explaining how it works. Not too difficult to exploit though: https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/25/amazon-fixed-exploit-alexa-listen/ Who know what skills the teacher has installed and what its doing? Also yeah, pretty sure it won't work through a non-transparent proxy. 1
djrscally Posted July 23, 2018 Posted July 23, 2018 nah, the system only activates when the activation phrase is heard - theres alot of technical crap online explaining how it works. When it thinks it hears the activation phrase 1
Stormborn15 Posted July 23, 2018 Author Posted July 23, 2018 I don’t want to do it - but will have to go through the motions to show I’ve tried :-/
MatthewL Posted July 23, 2018 Posted July 23, 2018 Who's Amazon account is it going to be linked to? Can see a kid telling it to order something and then the teacher kicking off! Simple answer no.
Arthur Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 Alexa for Business Alexa for Business is a pay-as-you-go service. There are no up-front fees, and no long term commitments. Alexa for Business charges are based on the number of shared devices you register, and the number of users enrolled in your organisation's account. How It Works Using Alexa for Business, organisations can deploy Alexa-enabled devices across a variety of locations, including at employees' desks, in conference rooms, and in common locations throughout the workplace. Administrative features provide organisations with the ability to manage skills, users, and devices across organisations. Skills or groups of skills are deployed directly to devices provisioned within the organisation. These can be selectively enabled across rooms or types of rooms that you define. You can also optionally manage and invite users to use these same Alexa skills on their personal devices. Shared Devices You can deploy Alexa devices to shared spaces in your workplace like conference rooms, huddle rooms, phone booths, lobbies, and copy rooms. Shared devices are not linked to any specific user, and anyone with physical access to the device can use them, including enrolled users. Each device is managed and configured directly through the Alexa for Business console, where you can set the location, specify which skills to make available, and enter conference room settings. Shared devices are charged per device, per month, and the subscription fee is the same regardless of the type of device. ^ Not available in the UK and it's quite expensive if you enrol a lot of users.
sted Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 nah, the system only activates when the activation phrase is heard - theres alot of technical crap online explaining how it works. but it has to be listening to hear the activation phrase so its effectively a 24h recording device
Arthur Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 but it has to be listening to hear the activation phrase so its effectively a 24h recording device It may be listening 24/7, but it's only listening for the wake words since the main ARM chip is powered down*. https://np.reddit.com/r/Showerthoughts/comments/7m91u9/if_google_devices_only_start_listening_once_you/drsdxe1 The Echo units have two main "modes". The first is a small firmware chip wired to the microphone that only contains about 50-60k of onboard memory. Its only purpose is to listen to the wake word, "Alexa," "Echo," etc. It doesn't do any actual language processing for this, but only listens for distinct combinations of syllables. This is why they can't be programmed to respond to arbitrary words. Once the firmware chip hears the wake word, it powers up the main ARM chip, which runs a stripped down version of Linux. This startup process takes just under a second, during which time the firmware chip has barely enough memory to buffer what you're saying if you immediately start talking after the wake word without pausing. Once the ARM chip is on, the blue ring on the top illuminates and recording begins. The firmware chip dumps its buffer to the start of the recording and then serves as a pass-through for the mic. Only this main ARM chip and OS has access to the networking interface, in or out. * At least in the first gen devices.
djrscally Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 This startup process takes just under a second, during which time the firmware chip has barely enough memory to buffer what you're saying if you immediately start talking after the wake word without pausing. That's clever.
enjay Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 nah, the system only activates when the activation phrase is heard - theres alot of technical crap online explaining how it works. So the events reported in https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/24/amazon-alexa-recorded-conversation are fake news, yes?
enjay Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 Who's Amazon account is it going to be linked to? Can see a kid telling it to order something and then the teacher kicking off! Simple answer no. Ha, good point. I can definitely see students doing that! Or just telling Alexa to play gangster rap in the middle of the lesson.
Jawloms Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 So the events reported in https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/24/amazon-alexa-recorded-conversation are fake news, yes? Not in the slightest. It thought it heard the wake word so then started recording, but it doesn't just record everything.
christhetech Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 Not a chance. We had a teacher here who wanted to setup the Raspberry Pi kit that MagPi were giving away free some time ago. It was basically a small cardboard box with a speaker and a button, which could be set up to work in a similar way to the Amazon Echo, using a Raspberry Pi to control it. For exactly the same reasons as some have already stated on here, I expressed my concerns quite strongly, and the project did not happen. It would have been quite an interesting little experiment for the class, but I was concerned that it would be connected to the internet and recording, and without being 100% certain of exactly what it was recording, I advised strongly against it. I got a little bit of stick for it, and maybe I was a little over-cautious, but I feel that my concerns were justifiable and there was no way that I was going to back down on my decision.
Arthur Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 Or just telling Alexa to play gangster rap in the middle of the lesson. Also... https://mashable.com/2017/11/08/amazon-alexa-rave-party-germany/ While home assistant devices like Alexa need a hotword in order to switch on, the one belonging to Oliver Haberstroh decided to have a rave at 1:50 a.m. Friday night/Saturday morning, while he was away. "While I was very relaxed in the Reeperbahn in Hamburg and enjoying a beer, Alexa managed on its own, without command and without me using my mobile phone (Spotify), to switch on at full volume and enjoy a party in my apartment." "She decided to have it at a very unfavourable time, between 1.50am and 3.00am." Frustrated neighbours alerted police, which broke into the apartment and silenced Alexa, pulling out the plug. Then, they changed the door lock. When Haberstroh arrived at home, he found a new lock and had to get new keys at police station -- along with an expensive locksmith bill. https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3017840/parrot-mimics-owner-to-make-purchases-using-amazon-echo A PARROT has become the latest voice to fool Amazon's Alexa voice assistant after ordering gift boxes using an Amazon Echo. Buddy the African Grey Parrot (5), mimicked his owner's voice so convincingly that her Amazon Echo accepted the order for six gift boxes. Corienne Pretorius (39) from Greenwich, London, via South Africa, Africa realised that the parrot had overheard a conversation she had been having, and ordered the boxes while she was out.
enjay Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 Not in the slightest. It thought it heard the wake word so then started recording, but it doesn't just record everything. I never said it did constantly record everything, but it does record enough to present a concern.
enjay Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 To be honest, I'd be tempted to let the teacher use it, under certain caution and guidance. Make sure the teacher is aware of the concerns and ensure they only use it in the context of the classroom activity and unplug it when they're done. If they do that, I don't think there is a risk (other than the risks to classroom management and random orders being placed)
Jawloms Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 I never said it did constantly record everything, but it does record enough to present a concern. Completely agree about the concern. I have two Echos at home but that's my choice and wouldn't dream of putting one in a classroom! When you suggested that article is fake news, that would imply that you think the article saying how it actually works is lying, therefore implying you think it records more than they suggest.
enjay Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 Completely agree about the concern. I have two Echos at home but that's my choice and wouldn't dream of putting one in a classroom! When you suggested that article is fake news, that would imply that you think the article saying how it actually works is lying, therefore implying you think it records more than they suggest. Not doubting the claims of when they record, just citing an example of the risks of constantly listening even if they don't always record. makes interesting watching. It is someone who kitted their house out with smart everything, and then set a trace going on their wifi to see everything they were sending back.
Stormborn15 Posted July 24, 2018 Author Posted July 24, 2018 Well , in the end didn’t get round to being asked again ... so I guess the plan was abandoned - till the next time ..
ADMaster Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 We got alexa from some free giveaway. The first thing I did was turn off voice purchasing. I've had it unplugged for months now. I'd be talking in another room and it thought I said alexa and started jabbering.
matt40k Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 Anyone know if the Amazon Echo are like the Google Home - the Google Home you can go on the app and see a list of previous commands its heard (and download the audio)
ADMaster Posted July 24, 2018 Posted July 24, 2018 Yes you can listen to it from the website or app. It will tell you what it thought it heard and ask if that was right. However it does not give a date/time of when it heard things. I just checked mine and it thought I wanted to order flour. I played the audio and it sounded like someone in another room or the TV.
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