You can monitor Echo itself over your network and quickly realize that it’s not sending a constant stream of voice data. For the most part the device is off until it hears its name.
It's the same reason you should try and bite the person attacking you and scratch the hell out of them.
I used to do telcom work for a machine shop. Part of my job was doing two 911 test calls every week (with and without an extra 9 for an outside line).
Now, on my cell phone in the Alexa app, this text is present, regardless of anything else. Amazon also has this data. They absolutely have every command/request sent to them, even if the request was not understood/processed.
Seems like a pretty good use for a voice-activated service.
"Alexa, lock the doors!" also sounds useful in this context.
"Alexa, unlock the door, command override Janeway alpha-two-phi."
[1] https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Amazon+Echo+Dot+Teardown/613... [2] https://soundandpicture.com/2011/06/audio-memory-cards-how-m...
Also, if we're going conspiracy mode: we're all surrounded by devices with very good microphones that are always on, primarily our phones.
99.9% of HN readers are just too boring (read: not terrorists or foreign officials) to have to worry about it.
Amazon winning DoD cloud business is actually the smartest thing the US government could do to align interests.
If the government show up with a valid court order, generally they can do what the hell they want? That's how justice works in a democracy?
It's not a legal stretch to extend CALEA wiretaps to IoT devices. And if the device manufacturer cooperates (in the same way ATT does), then the hurdles shrink drastically.
A) Giving the government access to communications that provider already has legal access to.
B) Collecting additional data from inside homes by exploiting current legal access to the software?
No.
If I hosted 10 billion dollars worth of unrelated business functionality, then told you to provide me with access for widespread surveillance purposes in an unrelated vertical of your business, you would think that is justifiable?
I beg your pardon, but what color is the sky where you are? Business doesn't work that way. Neither does ethics or morality.
Profit does not whitewash societal harm. It may create other business opportunities to remedy negative externalities, but there is no guarantee that the nature of the harm inflicted has a profitable capitalism compatible remediation.
This is one of those cases.
The "government wants to listen to every Echo user" idea is paranoid fantasy.
The "government would really like to listen to these individuals, but doesn't want to go through full court proceedings" is less fanciful and not without precedent.
It's not just profit. It's the morass of backroom bargains to stave off regulation, honest desire to "do good", future contracts, and political goodwill.
There's a rich history of US technology companies enabling the government / military for all of the above reasons.
No, you can't. The SSL certs are pinned.
You can determine the metadata and quantity of data transferred, but not the contents.