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Newest Reality

(12,712 posts)
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 02:08 PM Dec 2019

Silicon Valley Is Listening to Your Most Intimate Moments

Having been in IT and tech, this was what I expected. I never imagined that so many people would easily allow "Big Brother" into their homes like this. You would think it would be a forced, authoritarian measure like China's surveillance systems and social credits.

I have to admit, it was a brilliant move and great marketing though. Alexis knows. Since our government is not so hot on regulating things currently, the sky is the limit. Have fun wondering what your device is doing. I mean, it's capitalism, right?

Oh, and no thanks. I really don't have any interest in participating. I am just fine with the online tracking that I take steps to avoid when possible.

"Alexa! Send yourself back!"

How the world’s biggest companies got millions of people to let temps analyze some very sensitive recordings.

<snip>
Former contractors describe the system as something out of the Tower of Babel or George Orwell’s 1984. At a GlobeTech office near an airport in Cork, Ireland, some say, they sat in silence at MacBooks wearing headphones, tasked with transcribing 1,300 clips a day, each of which could be a single sentence or an entire conversation. (This quota was reduced from as many as 2,500 clips, others say, to improve accuracy rates.) When a contractor clicked play on a voice recording, the computer filled a text box with the words it thought Siri “heard,” then prompted the worker to approve or correct the translation and move on. GlobeTech didn’t respond to requests for comment.


A program the workers used, called CrowdCollect, included buttons to skip recordings for a variety of reasons—accidental trigger, missing audio, wrong language—but contractors say there was no specific mechanism to report or delete offensive or inappropriate audio, such as drunk-sounding users slurring demands into the mics or people dictating sexts. Contractors who asked managers whether they could skip overly private clips were told no clips were too private. They were expected to transcribe anything that came in. Contractors often lasted only a couple of months, and training on privacy issues was minimal. One former contractor who had no qualms about the work says listening in on real-world users was “absolutely hilarious.”

<snip>
The fine print grants Amazon the right to retain and experiment on its voice clips far beyond what Apple does with Siri. By default, the company retains recordings indefinitely. Amazon discloses few specifics on how this data is used, except to say its human transcriptions have proved an enormous advantage in translating Alexa into new languages around the world and expanding its response capabilities.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-12-11/silicon-valley-got-millions-to-let-siri-and-alexa-listen-in
16 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Silicon Valley Is Listening to Your Most Intimate Moments (Original Post) Newest Reality Dec 2019 OP
i wouldn't dare use alexa or siri. 5X Dec 2019 #1
+100 Some new technologies are deninitely NOT advances! abqtommy Dec 2019 #6
How do you disconnect the microphone? Merlot Dec 2019 #7
i don't have an Air, nor ever worked on apple products. 5X Dec 2019 #11
Not being tech-savvy, I did what I could to my laptop... Talitha Dec 2019 #16
My Alexa must be bored silly. The Velveteen Ocelot Dec 2019 #2
LOL! Newest Reality Dec 2019 #3
I just use mine to play music and get weather reports. The Velveteen Ocelot Dec 2019 #4
It's using you for a lot more than you're using it for. Merlot Dec 2019 #8
Maybe, if I ever did anything worth spying on. The Velveteen Ocelot Dec 2019 #12
Yeah, it's like HAL watching you: rusty fender Dec 2019 #5
I just don't get the need for those things. cwydro Dec 2019 #9
It's a gadget, and gadgets can be fun and useful. The Velveteen Ocelot Dec 2019 #13
I only use it to keep in contact with friends and family. defacto7 Dec 2019 #10
+1 for "silicon". sl8 Dec 2019 #14
Thanks! Newest Reality Dec 2019 #15

5X

(3,971 posts)
1. i wouldn't dare use alexa or siri.
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 02:19 PM
Dec 2019

i even physically disconnected the camera and microphone on my laptop.

i worked in it for 25 years, don't trust anything or anybody.

Merlot

(9,696 posts)
7. How do you disconnect the microphone?
Reply to 5X (Reply #1)
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 03:02 PM
Dec 2019

I've gone through all the settings, can't find out out to get rid of the mic on my Air.

I've taped over the camera, at least that was easy.

5X

(3,971 posts)
11. i don't have an Air, nor ever worked on apple products.
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 03:11 PM
Dec 2019

This is on a Asus laptop, but can do it on most non-apple products.

edit to add: i am disassembling them to do this.

Talitha

(6,476 posts)
16. Not being tech-savvy, I did what I could to my laptop...
Reply to 5X (Reply #1)
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 04:57 PM
Dec 2019

Covered the camera with duct tape, and plugged the microphone hole with 'blue tack.' I don't trust those devices either... TBH, they creep me out.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,267 posts)
2. My Alexa must be bored silly.
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 02:48 PM
Dec 2019

Still, it's creepy to think she could be watching if I ever were to have intimate moments, which is unlikely.

Newest Reality

(12,712 posts)
3. LOL!
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 02:53 PM
Dec 2019

Yeah, that's probably how mine would be if I had one. It would probably tell me I am not very interesting to listen to and suggest a video on how to, or something.

It really should be creepy. I think that, "Oh, cool, it hears me and talks back and gives me information and orders things for me, so it must be good." is a product of a conditioned, consumer mentality that has been in progress since Edward Bernays. How long did it take for some people to realize that it was not so much about them using Facebook, but more about Facebook using them, (and other similar services). In that case, if you are not paying for it, (in the capitalist model, at least) you are the product, and that comes with a guarantee.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,267 posts)
12. Maybe, if I ever did anything worth spying on.
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 03:19 PM
Dec 2019

All I ever do that Alexa can watch me doing is watching tv or posting on DU.

 

cwydro

(51,308 posts)
9. I just don't get the need for those things.
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 03:09 PM
Dec 2019

I have a radio for music, tv for entertainment, my phone plays my audible books. I make grocery lists with a pen and paper.

I guess someone knows my taste in books, but there’s nothing to see there lol.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,267 posts)
13. It's a gadget, and gadgets can be fun and useful.
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 03:31 PM
Dec 2019

But all those things - radios, tvs, phones - are gadgets. You don't need a radio for music, you can sing or play an instrument. You don't need a tv for entertainment, you can go to plays. You don't need a smartphone, a mega-gadget if there ever was one, for audible books, you can just hire someone to read to you. It all depends on what you want your gadgets to do. Arguably we don't need any of them, but we have them and we like them. I don't want a smart refrigerator or a smart toilet, but they exist.

sl8

(13,584 posts)
14. +1 for "silicon".
Thu Dec 12, 2019, 03:31 PM
Dec 2019

This is the 3rd post I've seen in the past few days that referred to either silicon or silicone, but yours is the only one that used the correct word. One of the others referred to Silicone Valley and one expressed a preference for silicon dildos. Granted, the latter one could be intentional, but from the context, I don't think so.



Oh, +1 for substance, too.



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