Alexa's main priority is to listen to you and fulfill your requests. Once you say the wake word, which in this case it's "Alexa", your virtual assistant will respond to you and complete the task you give. For example:
- "Alexa, add paper towels to my shopping list"
- "Alexa, play Christmas music"
- "Alexa, set a timer for 15 minutes"
Your voice assistant, Alexa, will listen to everything you ask her! However, she will also remember everything you ask her. Here lies a problem that presents a compromise to privacy and security, even within the walls of your own home.
Who Is Alexa?
A lingering question asks, who is actually listening to your requests? Who is behind the technology?
The person behind Alexa is actually a computer algorithm. The algorithm studies what you say and ask, and it logs these specific details to get to know you better. Alexa will store anything you say to her in efforts to cater towards you. Amazon aims to accurately market as many products to you as possible. With that said, Alexa is on the front lines, studying you and getting to know all of your interests and desires. Amazon's mission isn't to breach privacy, rather to sell as much to you as possible.
Protection & Privacy
Because Alexa's purpose is to listen to you, there aren't many strides that can be taken to deny access to the recording of your requests. Without the feature of fulfilling duties for you, she would be useless. However, there are a few things that can be done to limit Alexa's data storage.
- Everything that is said to Alexa is noted in your personal Alexa app on your phone. These recordings and notes can be deleted from the app, which removes the excerpt from all Amazon servers and storage.
- Create a strong password to ensure that no outside parties will be able to get into your account and see your history.
- Talk with your family and decide if having a voice assistant, like Alexa, is worth the risk to a privacy compromise.
Lindsey Whiting
Sources
Clauser, Grant. “Amazon's Alexa Never Stops Listening to You. Should You Worry?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Aug. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/amazons-alexa-never-stops-listening-to-you/.
Credits:
Created with images by hakinmhan - "Wood table top on blur kitchen counter (room)background." • matthew_100 - "digital voice assistant with black background" • Prostock-studio - "Cheerful multiracial colleagues having small talk in office" • Studio Romantic - "Concentrated parents and children playing board game while enjoying free time at home. Happy young Caucasian family with little kids sitting in sunny living-room and taking blocks from tumble tower"