Have you ever conversed with Alexa, Siri, or your Google Assistant? It is amazing that they respond to our orders almost instantly. Nevertheless, have you thought where all those recordings go? Honestly speaking, it looks rather creepy. Our smart home devices are just miniature wiretaps placed on our counters.
We see these gadgets as our personal assistants; however, they are ravenous computers. They listen to some specific word to start recording. Sometimes they might make mistakes. Any word heard on TV could be a starting point of the recording process. Thus, your personal conversations could be ended up in the server of another state.
Last week, I conducted a research and listened to my recordings of Amazon Echo. It was a rather entertaining experience. I heard hours of silence, barking of my dog, and conversation with my parents about my favorite pizza toppings. All this data is stored forever unless you delete it yourself. They are your digital diaries you do not intend to record.
Nevertheless, how one can find out what his devices recorded? The procedure varies in each case. In case of Amazon Alexa, you have to download Alexa application on your phone. There in the "More" menu located in the lower right corner, you will find the item "Alexa Privacy". Click on "Review Voice History".
There will be a list of dates and times of recording. Actually, it is rather embarrassing experience. For example, I have heard myself singing in the shower. If you do not like the audio clip, you can simply delete it.
In case of Google Home, the procedure is rather different. There you will need to visit your My Activity webpage in your browser. Google keeps track of all activities conducted with Google products. Therefore, you have to filter all the results and choose only Google Assistant. There will be the list of your recordings that you can play back. Also, you can set up automatic deletion of data after three months period.
In case of Siri from Apple, the situation is a bit different. However, they are well-known to care about the privacy of their customers. Before recently, they were listening to recordings to improve their assistant. You can check your recordings in Siri by entering into the Settings app -> "Siri & Search" -> "Siri & Dictation History". It is possible to ask for copies of your data there.
How does it affect you, a high school student? Think about your future. You might discuss your intentions concerning college applications or some more private topics. You certainly do not want any tech company to store such data forever. It is always possible to breach security and hackers will steal your personal data to sell it on the dark web.
Another aspect is targeted advertising. Did you ever have a conversation about buying shoes and then saw advertisement of those shoes? It is not a coincidence. They listen to key words and form your profile of interests and habits. They know what you like, what you eat and what you watch.
I strongly recommend you to conduct monthly privacy audit of your recordings. It will take you about five minutes. Log in to your account and listen to several most recent recordings. If you hear something personal in the audio, delete it. Also, I would recommend you to mute your device during sensitive conversation.
You can use some tape to cover the microphone, which sounds weird, but it works. There is also an option to turn off "Help Improve" feature in the settings. Thus, you will prevent companies from training their artificial intelligence models using your voice.
0 Comments