
Amazon reveals private Alexa voice data files - atemerev
https://www.heise.de/amp/meldung/Amazon-reveals-private-voice-data-files-4256015.html
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Someone1234
Mods: The title should likely be changed back to the original ("Amazon reveals
private Alexa voice data files").

The story here isn't that Echo stores recordings (they tell you they do, you
can even listen to them) and it wasn't done "via GDPR" since that's a law, not
a method of communication or platform.

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dang
Yes. Submitters: please follow the site guidelines and "use the original
title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize."
([https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html))

(Submitted title was "Amazon Echo stores your voice recordings – sent other
user’s records via GDPR".)

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heywire
Since it seems like quite a lot of people are surprised that Amazon stores
these recordings...

PSA: you can go into the Alexa app and look at your Echo history and even
listen to recordings of each interaction.

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londons_explore
Google is the same - see your recordings here:

[https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity?restrict=vaa](https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity?restrict=vaa)

I'm not sure if it's codified in law, but big tech companies are moving
towards 'if we store non-anonymized user data, it must be possible for the
user to log in and see it themselves'. I think they do that so they can argue
that storing and playing back the audio is a feature of the product, rather
than something ancillary they happen to do which might not be in the users
interest.

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jkantz
This used to be called "search history", and then "web history", and now "my
activity". These controls for user data have been a best practice Google has
been following for many years.

[https://policies.google.com/technologies/retention](https://policies.google.com/technologies/retention)

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shshhdhs
Dupe. From the other day with 482 points, 403 comments:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18727020](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18727020)

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omarforgotpwd
Perfect example of how regulations designed to serve one purpose can in fact
create just as many problems as it solves.

They meant to give consumers insight into their own data. Instead they created
a process for getting previously locked up private data out of the company,
which is prone to human error and / or intentional abuse. Nice.

~~~
Johnny555
But the problem was still there: poor control over stored recordings. It could
have surfaced another way, like a law enforcement request for some suspect's
recordings and being sent someone else's recordings.

So the regulation is not at fault here, _" they created a process for getting
previously locked up private data out of the company, which is prone to human
error and / or intentional abuse"_ is the real problem.

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mbrumlow
Anybody know how this compairs with Google's home product ?

I currently have both and need to make a decision on which route I am going to
go.

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mrmcd
Google Home stores everything after the hotword trigger until the light goes
off (you stop speaking).

Each action has a card that explains what triggered it, what device, and what
result was given, and you can listen to it. You can also turn recording
storage off entirely, or delete by device or date ranges.

Honestly the only bad part is it's buried several layers down in the options
and account activity, where most people don't go looking. If you do care
though the privacy options and controls are pretty good.

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archgoon
This is the same with Alexa, with the exact same drawback that it's buried in
the settings>History section.

It's actually a really cool feature; this entire fiasco could likely have been
avoided if Amazon were to embrace the feature (data export and review) rather
than treat it as something only nerds are interested in.

If you have data export by default (like Google's Data Takeout), then you
don't need to build internal custom systems and manual processes that are only
tested on GDPR requests. You've already built them for the default case.
Handling GDPR requests is now user self-serve with a link to documentation
explaining how to get their data.

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koksik202
also good way to discover boyfriend of my wife

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Johnny555
I you think she's talking about him at home or he's coming over when you're
not home, wouldn't it be easier to go the traditional route of a hidden
camera, or hiding and audio recorder in the bedroom?

Relying on her to say "Alexa, play sexy music for Johnny" seems unreliable.
But if you really want to use the Echo to spy on your wife, you can just
review the voice history yourself.

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b_tterc_p
Amazon also has people listen to your voice recordings so they can manually
label the outcome for future training data.

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intopieces
Everyone does this, training data needs labels.

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b_tterc_p
Obviously I recognize that training data needs labels as that’s why I said
they did it. But I bet you ten bucks the average consumer does not expect
humans to hear what they say to Alexa.

