Hacker News Reader

Do you have a smartphone in the house?

You know, that thing with a microphone and an always-on data connection.

I wonder how the microphone on an Alexa compares to my smartphone.

But either way, smartphones can be rooted (for example with LineageOS), Alexa seems a lot more closed than a smartphone.

So did you personally audit the code of you phone or do you just trust that it is not spying on you?

The thing with a microphone - yes; but definitely not with an always-on data connection. I only turn that on when I actually need it; same with GPS and wifi.

So that it can just buffer up the recordings and upload it when you turn data on?

Yes, however that is far more limited scenario - it's much easier to notice that free space on my phone is disappearing. And that space is not limitless anyway, so after certain period of time it'd have to either drop old recordings or stop making new ones.

Ah so there will now only be a reduced chance that your incriminating speech will be uploaded. That's OK then.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com