Throughout our everyday schedules,
we use our phones as a digital planner that helps remind us what we have going
for the day or updates us on the weather, the featured news, and so much more
that contributes to our busy lives when we don’t have a chance to get to it
ourselves. For some people, they use devices such as Alexa, Google Home, Siri,
and so much more of them that verbally tell them what’s coming next. But when
you think about it, HOW do they know what to say and when to say it? Are they
constantly hearing what you are saying or is it just a coincidence? It’s kind
of scary to think that a device that is supposed to help you and remind you of
what is next on your schedule is saying things based on what you said the other
day or how they are on even when you’re not saying anything is kind of creepy
because again, they are ALWAYS listening and is ready at your command. You may
think of shutting it off, but its almost like an everyday need because it does
all the work for you and just tells you when it’s time to do this or that.
In connection with my
last blog post about Facebook and how it has some sort of connection with our
browser and throws ads to our face with the things we look up, how are these
devices doing the same thing, but instead verbally saying it when not asked? These
devices also store our information just like Facebook does without really
asking for our permission and invading our privacy. But if we think about it,
we let these devices into our homes and into our daily lives, so that’s pretty
much all it needed in order to get our information. In the book we’ve been
reading and discussing in class, “Anti-social media” by Siva Vaidhyanathan,
talks about how Facebook disconnects us and undermines democracy. He mentions
how though there are already many dangers with having Facebook alone, but it is
even more dangerous having and holding all of this information on us just like
these devices do. Anybody can abuse our information by somehow hacking in our
devices and listening in to our personal lives that can be used for the purposes
of public shaming, harassing, or exposing personal information to outsiders. In
other words, its best to keep it away from our personal lives so we can prevent
hackers/intruders from creating a false version/persona of us while monitoring
our every movement and activity we make to use against us in later times.
Many people throughout
the world have had some odd experiences with their devices especially the Alexa
device where a family from Portland had a terrible one. KIRO 7 did an interview
with the family that contacted Amazon to investigate their
problem after their private conversation in their home was recorded by Amazon's
Alexa, and that the recorded audio was sent to the phone of a random person in
Seattle, who was in the family’s contact list. After receiving the call above
from one of her husband's employees, who was in the family’s contact list, the
family unplugged all the devices, and repeatedly called Amazon. An Alexa
engineer was able to investigate. The statement made by the family about the investigation
stated,
"We unplugged all of
them and he proceeded to tell us that he had received audio files of recordings
from inside our house," she said. "At first, my husband was, like,
'no you didn't!' And the (recipient of the message) said 'You sat there talking
about hardwood floors.' And we said, 'oh gosh, you really did hear us.'"
The family says the
engineer did not provide specifics about why it happened, or if it's a
widespread issue but said that the device just guessed what we they were
saying. They also mentioned that the device did not audibly advise them it was
preparing to send the recording, something it’s programmed to do. When KIRO 7
asked Amazon questions, they sent this response:
“Amazon takes privacy
very seriously. We investigated what happened and determined this was an
extremely rare occurrence. We are taking steps to avoid this from happening in
the future."
In conclusion, I personally
have had a few weird encounters with these devices but never one like the one
above. Since this isn’t the first story to come out with a similar claim, me and
my family do take precautions such as turning them off when not using them or
just planning to never get another one at all. I believe anybody can hack into
these devices and ruin peoples lives just like that. It’s better to stick with
a paper planner or something that won’t “accidentally” ruin your life and just to
play it safe because we never know what can happen.
Article used: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-24/unplug-your-alexa-devices-right-now-youre-being-hacked
No comments:
Post a Comment