
Working from home? switch off Alexa, say lawyers - spking
https://www.zdnet.com/article/working-from-home-switch-off-amazons-alexa-say-lawyers/
======
dang
This article is cribbed from one that was discussed 4 days ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22646300](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22646300)

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imglorp
Is it time to deploy an army of personal chaff dispensers, to reduce the
listeners' benefit of any ill-gotten gains from these devices? Regular
targeted queries to the assistants would not be affected.

You'd just need an old laptop or phone running text-to-speech on some random
phrases, speaking them every few seconds. You'd run it when you left the room,
to keep the assistant busy with your bogus data feed.

    
    
        "When is the baby due?"
        "I need a lawyer"
        "I like this brand of yacht"
        "anthrax plutonium NSA pepsi marlboro"

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sparkywolf
I would love to get rid of my Echos and lock down my network, but I can't find
a self-hosted & open source smart home voice solution that can match the Alexa
ecosystem. I do have my smart home on a separate network that's highly
monitored, but I really wish I could completely lock it down so it couldn't
talk to the outside world at all. I would be totally willing to pay for a
self-hosted solution to Alexa just for smart home automation/control

~~~
rapnie
I don't know how they measure up, but here are some alternatives:

\- [https://almond.stanford.edu/](https://almond.stanford.edu/)

\- [https://rhasspy.readthedocs.io/](https://rhasspy.readthedocs.io/)

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nepthar
I'm a bit of a privacy advocate, so I turn all of the voice assistants off
when possible. I have found precisely one situation where they make my life
better - cleaning out the fridge and asking how long various items last.

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bitwize
Alexa, Google Home, Nest, Ring, Apple iHome, all smart TVs newer than 2016 and
all PCs running Windows 10 1903 or later are on my banned devices list because
of the privacy risks they present. (iOS and Android devices are admissible as
long as their digital assistants are turned off, and I may add stock Android
ROMs to the list and only allow Replicant, LineageOS, etc.) I've already
notified my girlfriend of the list, so if/when we make a home together, she
knows not to bring anything on it into the home. I'm also training her in how
to use Ubuntu and KDE for small-scale productivity.

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anton_gogolev
So you're not welcoming guests with Android phones? Will you be placing their
mobile phones in a Faraday cage?

Or will not not be visiting anyone who has a Homepod/Echo at home?

~~~
bitwize
Placing their phones in a Faraday cage sounds like a good idea. But I will
probably just have to watch what I say when company is over.

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whalesalad
I am honestly kinda surprised that so many people have these trojan horses in
their homes.

Is the value really there?

~~~
speedgoose
Yes, it makes animal sounds, reminds me stuff, control the lights and blinds,
and listen to me having sex.

~~~
justwalt
Well, when you put it that way..

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izzydata
Do people actually find these devices useful or is it just a gimmick? I'm
relatively young, but I've never used my voice to control a piece of software
before. It doesn't appear to be useful compared to manual entry.

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thomk
We have a google home but when its not in use its not turned off; it's
unplugged.

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reddog
I am also a big privacy advocate so I set up my Echos so that they only listen
when I press the button on the top of the device or say the keyword "Alexa".
And just because I am extremely worried about big tech surveillance, I've even
configured the device so that whenever it is "listening" it illuminates a blue
light.

I know -- I'm getting close to a tinfoil hat level of paranoia here but you
can't be too careful these days.

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ed312
Attorneys of HN: would you be offended / consider it rude if a potential
client asked if you had one of these devices and if it was turned off?

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alistairSH
Not an attorney, but if a customer or partner asked, I'd happily go unplug
Alexa for the remainder of the call. For me, it's a glorified light switch and
there's only one lamp in my house that has a hard-to-reach switch (it's on a
non-switched outlet behind the sofa).

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vaylian
> Paranoia is one of the three essential skills every lawyer should have. The
> other two are, of course, an aggressive billing department and a cataclysmic
> ability to out-lie even a politician.

I can understand the billing department. But could someone please explain the
other two to me? Or this hyperbole here that I don't pick up?

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vineyardmike
But what if you work for amazon?

/s

