Police in Arkansas are investigating the death of Victor Collins who was found dead in a hot tube last year in the home of James Andrew Bates. Coroner's report determined Collins was strangled and drowned in the hot tub. Bates was charged with killing Collins on 22 November 2015.
Amazon Alexa and Echo
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Bentonville, Arkansas police asked Amazon for audio and any other records the smart devices may provide during the time-frame of events surrounding the murder.
At the time of this article, Amazon has declined to turn-over the data to authorities.
Your Home's Smart Devices May Be Used Against You
In connection with their investigation police sought the water usage information from the home's smart water heater. The smart meter's records showed that someone at the home used 140 gallons of water between 1-3 a.m. which was a much greater than normal amount of usage. Police suspect that Collins used a garden hose to wash away evidence.
Smart devices like Alexa are in always listening mode and not in the always recording mode. After Alexa hears its wake-up command, Alexa holds about 60 seconds of recorded audio in its storage buffer. The buffer is constantly reused and over-written as soon as new audio is recorded.
On the other hand Echo, after receiving its wake-up command, streams audio to the cloud where the audio is converted into instructions the device can act upon. The requests made to Echo are saved in the cloud and Amazon does allows users to access the data and erase voice recordings.
Privacy Concerns
As consumers surround themselves with smart devices like smart-thermostats, smart-cameras, and other smart-toys the ability to use these devices as surveillance inside the owner's home has raised concerns among privacy advocacy groups.
Source and Full Article
Alexa: Who dunnit?, USATODAY, 27 December 2016
I've heard of some other devices such as smart TVs sending audio to the cloud. We need to be aware of the potential issues with these devices. I know Google lets you access audio they have from you for searches etc.
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Thank you for that additional information.
One of the reasons I posted the information from this article is to raise awareness of the possible pitfalls of smart-devices.
Steem on,
Mike
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It's getting downright Orwellian Creepy out there.
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Really interesting post! I have an a amazon echo myself and was Wondering about what it could do. Thanks! Upvoted and resteemed. Jonathan.
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Not only is big brother coming to the house, we are killing ourselves to buy one, and once they connect it to fedbook their biggest fear will be that nobody is listening.
Keep working, stop paying, and have a life.
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