Amazon Echo in a classroom

[Sheridan]

I know this has been discussed before, but not much recently - one of our primaries has been given a batch of Echo's. I did warn them of the unlikelihood of them working behind the (council) proxy and of potential GPDR issues as well

 

However, for my own satisfaction, is there a way to get them working through a proxy? I've had a look and theres nowhere to specify anything, so presumably the only way is whitelisting via MAC or IP? (that won't fly with the council I bet!)

[PotNoodleTech]

The only way would be if the proxy was transparent. You may also run into problems with not being able to ascertain the device's mac address.

 

Basically I you have to enter a proxy IP and PoRT into into a web browser to get on the net, you won't be able to get an echo to work, If you use mac address filtering, you won't be able to get an echo to work, if you use SSL certificates in your wireless, you won't be able to get an echo to work.

 

It's a shame as they could be massively useful (privacy concerns aside).

[Sheridan]

The only way would be if the proxy was transparent. You may also run into problems with not being able to ascertain the device's mac address.

 

Basically I you have to enter a proxy IP and PoRT into into a web browser to get on the net, you won't be able to get an echo to work, If you use mac address filtering, you won't be able to get an echo to work, if you use SSL certificates in your wireless, you won't be able to get an echo to work.

 

It's a shame as they could be massively useful (privacy concerns aside).

 

They use a direct proxy port, which has to be specified manually (council provided so we can't change it) so I guess they're knackered.

 

I'm not sure how much use they'd be anyway - they seem very much geared to home use/automation etc.

[Jawloms]

It's a shame as they could be massively useful (privacy concerns aside).

 

Please take this as a genuine question as that is how it is intended and not as a sneering "yeah whatever";

 

How could they be useful? I've been racking my brains and I can't think what you could do with them in a classroom environment.

[Arthur]

and of potential GPDR issues as well

 

Amazon sends 1,700 Alexa voice recordings to a random person

 

Amazon inadvertently sent 1,700 audio files containing recordings of Alexa interactions by a customer to a random person – and after a newspaper investigation exposed the snafu, characterized it as a “mishap” that came down to one employee’s mistake.

 

In August, an Amazon customer in Germany (going by the alias "Martin Schneider" for purposes of the report) made use of his rights under the recently passed EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to ask for copies of the personal data Amazon has on file about him.

 

Amazon complied, sending Schneider a 100MB ZIP file which, among other things, contained about 1,700 Alexa audio files along with transcripts of Alexa voice commands. There was just one problem – Schneider doesn’t use Alexa. After listening to a few of the files, they were clearly of someone else speaking, so he concluded that Amazon sent him the data in error. But Amazon didn’t respond to his efforts to contact them about the problem, he said, so he contacted Heise Media’s c’t publication in mid-November.

 

The shocking part of the story is how quickly the investigative reporters were able to identify the victim. From the recordings, which cover the entire month of May 2018, they were able to determine that he has a Fire TV and an Echo box, and that he uses Alexa to control a smart home thermostat as well as his phone. A female voice speaking to Alexa indicates that he has also a female companion. They were also able to hear the man in the shower while he was issuing certain commands. There were also alarms, Spotify commands, public transport and weather inquiries.

[Sheridan]

This is the new world, the more we are pushed/pulled towards the cloud and IoT, the more things like this will happen! Just look at all the breaches and downtime’s this last year, probably will get worse before it gets better

 

Back on topic though, I guess trying to use a device marketed for home use in a primary is just a bad idea anyway

[jmak]

I saw Google Home devices being used in a primary. The teacher said they worked really well for basic internet research. There's definitely a stage at primary where kids can phrase a question and understand an answer well before they're able to enter text in a box and quickly assimilate lots of text from a web page (such as a search results page). I presume an Alexa could be used in the same way.

[Jawloms]

Back on topic though, I guess trying to use a device marketed for home use in a primary is just a bad idea anyway

 

[Gets big spoon]

 

You mean like Apple kit?

 

[runs away]

[Sheridan]

[Gets big spoon]

 

You mean like Apple kit?

 

[runs away]

 

Exactly!

 

Although, after 2 years of battling with Windows 10, macos is really starting to appeal.