
Amazon Wants You to Use Alexa to Track Health Care - petethomas
https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-clears-path-for-alexas-use-as-health-service-11554669234
======
snarf21
There is an unintended consequence with this push into reporting and tracking
personal health information (PHI). Alexa et. al. do _NOT_ personally identify
(yet?) the person activating the device. If my wife asks Express Scripts for
prescriptions and it says "Your Viagra will be delivered at 10:00 a.m.", what
if she doesn't know I take it? What happens if your nosy neighbor activates it
when you step out of the room to snoop in your digital medicine cabinet? In
most things you can have security or convenience but not both.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Alexa et. al. do NOT personally identify (yet?) the person activating the
> device

Alexa may not, but the “et al” (sidenote; only the “al.” not the “et” is an
abbreviation) is perhaps overstated: Google Home, properly configured, uses
voice matching with users registered with the device for personal information,
and provides more generic access without a voice match.

------
devoply
No thanks. The only issues that I have with moves like these is when they
become Googlish and mandatory rather than optional. I use Alexa everyday. I
like Alexa. I don't want to get rid of Alexa because it's prying, but I will.

