amzn_engineer1

> First, the Tech/Dev managers need to stand up. Instead of saying 'Yes' to every feature request, they need to say 'No', or 'Later'.

Yes, I see this a lot too. I think software managers have more incentive to get new features deployed. I don't think this is a good way to measure their performance as a manager because of the consequences we've already mentioned.

I would also like to see more concepts from physical development implemented in software. At times feels like the wild west out here and too often we ignore the lessons from similar experiences.

Thank you for that input btw.

I agree with you and my response to another comment elaborates: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17154679

I'm all for doing away with the "it's gotta ship yesterday" mentality, what your thoughts are on how developers can help stop it?

I shouldn't have called this a "conspiracy story" and I should have given more respect to the parties involved who experienced this. While I think the issue is similar to a "butt dial", the customer felt violated and more precautions should have been taken to prevent this.

What I should have said is this report makes it difficult to understand what actually happened. It seems clear this article favors click-bait quotes that insinuate a "big brother" vibe such as:

> "'unplug your Alexa devices right now,' she said. 'You're being hacked.'"

If she had instead said "Alexa butt-dialed me!", would you still be interested in this report?

I think you accurately identify the issue with this situation / skill; voice triggers need to weigh convenience (how easy should it be to activate this skill) against it's permissions or potential (how can this skill affect a customer). In this case, I think this was not done properly.

This does not mean Amazon does not take privacy seriously. It is a company of small teams with very few layers of management between an engineer and business decision. The error in judgement of one team does not reflect on all of Amazon.

As you say, Voice UI is still in its infancy and not lacking growing pains. However, because Amazon does take privacy very seriously, after this incident, I'm certain there will be actions taken internally to ensure teams properly weigh the gravity of a skill with its voice trigger (or adjustments made if there is already an existing policy).

My own thoughts, not Amazon's.

What actually happened: Alexa misinterpreted some voice commands and activated a "call" skill. The people involved and local news got very excited and escalated this into a conspiracy story.

Amazon takes customer privacy EXTREMELY seriously. There's no way a team would get the "ok" to build a skill that randomly records private conversations then sends them to a random contact. It also doesn't make any logical sense to build such a skill.

Yes, I might sound biased because I am an engineer at Amazon. This statement is my own and unrelated to Amazon's opinion.