On: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

[celim307]

The pessimist in me think that a determined actor could simply capture non-trigger voice data offline, and bundle it with the rest of the traffic whenever the next trigger word occurs. But I am talking out my ass and have in no way verified any of this

[ColanR → celim307]

It does seem to me like Amazon worded that statement very carefully, and in a way that allowed for that kind of behavior to occur.

Conversely, if they were not doing that kind of thing, they could have removed that ambiguity from what they said.

[astazangasta → celim307]

This was my thought too; there doesn't seem to be a way to verify this isn't happening.

[smarkov → astazangasta]

If data is being buffered and only sent after the trigger words wouldn't the data transmitted vary depending on how much was said before the trigger word?

[mulmen → smarkov]

Maybe. All uploads could be padded with the maximum buffer size so you can't tell the difference. The buffer could flush only small amounts at a time. Some compression algorithm could be used that becomes more efficient with larger recordings.

What you should be asking with any "smart" device is "can I prove this device will do no harm to me".

Honestly I have never understood the value proposition of any smart device. Why would I want any of that functionality? Never once in my life have I ever wanted to talk to my TV. I'm beginning to (again) question the wisdom of carrying a smartphone.