Amazon data slurp. GDPR

[sigma]

Apologies that this is from Twitter.

 

First post in the thread

 

 

 

So I posited a while ago that Amazon was recording my Alexa input to improve performance... Remember @frabcus? @paul_furley recommended I put in a #GDPR request for all my information which I duly did. It arrived today... How very interesting... So Amazon have all my...

 

contacts, all my Google calendars, they log every app I use on every device down to the millisecond, which books I read the most and continously, and there are 4,800 audio recordings of my (and probably my kids') interactions with Alexa...

 

 

Bears more investigation I imagine it's the same for Google Home... and I think Apple has something in this space too... maybe. lol

 

I *have* validated empirically that the Google home does not send audio prior to the keyphrase, however DOES continue sending a few seconds after you've stopped talking.

 

I would expect so. Good technical reasons for doing it to improve the within the prevailing AI/ML systems environment I would guess

 

Wow! Actual audio recordings?

 

Oh yes 4800+ and their transcriptions.

That is super scary!!

 

I wonder on what basis they’re able to record app usage? That seems terrifyingly invasive, and is probably happening to me too.

 

Cortana anyone? Do you have Microsoft as a joint Data Controller in your GDPR documentation?

[hardtailstar]

If you are embedded in the Google/Android ecosystem then they already have most of that data anyway.

[jthompson]

They'll also likely have your own contact details many times over, from acquaintances of yours who've bought similar toys.

 

As for Cortana at school, we've had those features turned off since day 1 (along with whatever other telemetry options are available), so I'm assuming that any Windows searches are essentially the old-fashioned local kind.

Edited November 16, 2018 by jthompson

[enjay]

I love how people get up in arms that home assistants which can respond to voice commands actually record your voice. Surely reviewing this - sometimes by an actual human - is a key part of improving the AI, to make sure it is actually delivering what was asked of it (similar to how predictive text engines monitor how often you tap the 'delete' button).

 

Contacts and calendars are similarly obvious (to the technically-minded anyway), as if you want Alexa to remind you about an appointment, it has to know about the appointment. Also, you can't expect it to send a text to Mrs Enjay without knowing her number.

 

App usage is interesting though - presumably, Amazon would only be able to get that from Alexa/Fire devices, not all devices connected to the home network.