Setting aside any issues with Amazon themselves running these…
I suspect that there is, at some point, going to be one almighty privacy clusterfuck when someone manages to mass-compromise Internet-connected speech-recognizing microphones.
I’m not saying that Alexa devices are even the worst here. I’d be more-worried about stuff like inexpensive security cameras out of China from some random company that promptly goes under and doesn’t provide any security updates.
But I really think that people don’t stop and consider “am I really prepared to put a sensor in my house that may have some random party on the Internet in control of it at some point in the future?”
I never understood willfully installing Big Brother in your own home on your own dime.
Alexa has already been compromised in a few different instances. Weirdos having full conversations with kids, etc.
Then add in the fact that systems from Google and Amazon are, well, owned and operated by these corpo giants with interests that don’t involve you other than harvesting your behavior.
You also make a very valid point about the cheap IP cams from China. I spent some time configuring a home system several years ago, and I couldn’t finish/make it operational. The security holes that I had no ability to close were astounding (like hard-coded, default admin passwords).
Setting aside any issues with Amazon themselves running these…
I suspect that there is, at some point, going to be one almighty privacy clusterfuck when someone manages to mass-compromise Internet-connected speech-recognizing microphones.
I’m not saying that Alexa devices are even the worst here. I’d be more-worried about stuff like inexpensive security cameras out of China from some random company that promptly goes under and doesn’t provide any security updates.
But I really think that people don’t stop and consider “am I really prepared to put a sensor in my house that may have some random party on the Internet in control of it at some point in the future?”
I never understood willfully installing Big Brother in your own home on your own dime.
Alexa has already been compromised in a few different instances. Weirdos having full conversations with kids, etc.
Then add in the fact that systems from Google and Amazon are, well, owned and operated by these corpo giants with interests that don’t involve you other than harvesting your behavior.
You also make a very valid point about the cheap IP cams from China. I spent some time configuring a home system several years ago, and I couldn’t finish/make it operational. The security holes that I had no ability to close were astounding (like hard-coded, default admin passwords).
It’s fascinating that modern oligarchy has been able to convince some people to wilfully replicate some elements 1984 in their homes.
In my experience (USA), it is magnitudes more than “some people”, unfortunately.
People read 1984 and thought, “Winston is my hero!”