Best of 2021 – Alexa, OK Google, Siri—Sued for Spying
As we close out 2021, we at Security Boulevard wanted to highlight the most popular articles of the year. Following is the next in our series of the Best of 2021.
Amazon, Apple and Google will have their days in court. They’ll be defending themselves on charges of listening to your conversations—when you least expect it. It’s been rumored for years—despite denials—but perhaps we’ll finally get to the bottom of things.
The complaints center around false awakening—that’s when the assistant thinks it heard you say “Alexa,” “OK Google,” or “Hey Siri,” but you actually didn’t. And then it records and uploads what you say next—but does it use what you said to target ads?
What price privacy? In today’s SB Blogwatch, we throw our toys into a bucket of water.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: EiaRemix, remixed.
Now Hear This
What’s the craic? Rachel Lerman reports—“Lawsuits say Siri and Google are listening, even when they’re not supposed to”:
Siri doesn’t work for us”
Tech companies have long encouraged putting listening devices in homes and pockets, attempting to convince consumers to rely on their voice assistants for any little need that pops up. But some are growing concerned that these devices are recording even when they’re not supposed to.
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The case is one of several that have been brought against Apple, Google and Amazon that involve allegations of violation of privacy by voice assistants … Siri, Alexa and … Google. … The companies deny that they are listening to conversations for any purpose other than the intended ones.
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This type of technology is designed to listen for its wake word [which] is a challenging task because voices often vary significantly from person to person. … The voice assistants are supposed to turn on when prompted – saying “Hey, Siri,” for example – but the lawsuit alleges that plaintiffs saw their devices activate even when they didn’t call out the wake word. That conversation was recorded without their consent and the information was then used to target advertisements toward them and sent on to third-party contractors to review, they allege.
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As they grow in popularity, more people are waking up to concerns that they might be listening a little too closely for comfort. … Nicole Ozer, the technology and civil liberties director of the ACLU of California, said the suits are a sign that people are realizing how much information the voice technology is collecting: “I think this lawsuit is part of people finally starting to realize that Siri doesn’t work for us, it works for Apple.”
Alexa! Does Amazon do the same thing? Because you’re missing from that headline. u/lordpugfart recollects:
Million dollar lawsuit”
Yeah there’s that one woman who issued a request that Amazon provide her with all personal info and data they have on her. Over 3000 audio recordings.
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Just remember, these people will never go to jail. They get slapped with a fine of a couple million dollars. And then continue to do it again until the next million dollar lawsuit.
But c’mon, it’s doing what you told it to. This Anonymous Coward notes the flaw in that argument:
This affects everyone around them”
People don’t agree to any EULA when they enter a room where some random eavesdropping device has been placed, or when some random person with their eavesdropping phone is around.
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For people who willfully buy such a device for themselves, alright, whatever, they should be aware of the risks. But since this affects everyone around them as well, it’s still a concern.
Although simonblack doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for that Devil’s advocate: [You’re fired—Ed.]
Logically impaired”
For the life of me, I can’t see how some people are so logically impaired that they couldn’t work that out for themselves. But then again, my brother bought a mobile phone but kept it switched off unless he wanted to talk to somebody.
Tell me again where the article came from? u/-rabbitrunner- ponders its provenance:
Those meanies”
Washington Post: In a scathing editorial, we would like to inform you that Amazon …
Bezos: *Casually looks in the direction of Washington Post*
Washington Post: … is … a … fabulous company to work for and not like those meanies at Apple and Google!
For the record, Nick Brown—@nwbvt—engineers software:
Blue car syndrome”
For the record, I work for an online marketing company. Never have I been offered a dataset consisting of data pulled from what devices hear.
That doesn’t mean it’s impossible that happens, but it’s much more likely this is the blue car syndrome.
Blue whatnow? When you buy a blue car and suddenly it seems like eveyone else is driving a blue car. And fred dog-face has other examples:
Tell me they aren’t spying on us”
Some months ago, my nephew and I were having a … conversation on kitchen knives — and we agreed to check out some Japanese knives. Within minutes, his Instagram feed and my Google browser popped up a series of ads for Japanese knives. This, before either of us had looked for anything.
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A few weeks later I’m in the car with my daughter discussing cast iron pans and within the hour — same thing the ads were for cast iron pans. Tell me they aren’t spying on us.
Yikes. And donfede alleges something rotten in the state of Sunnyvale:
Surveillance capitalism”
We can 100% confirm that “do no evil” google regularly tries to record unauthorized audio of the environment. We had started circa 2018 using LineageOS 14 (based on Android 7) with minimal google apps installed. The thinking was to “benefit from the google play store” while using a more transparent phone OS.
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Thus we learned that “Google Play Services” would attempt to record audio at unexpected times without permission: The PrivacyGuard feature would display a prompt asking if they should be allowed or not!?!
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Probably not surprisingly, circa … Android 10 the PrivacyGuard feature was … ”re-engineered” by Google. Perfect example of the current “surveillance capitalism” state of things.
Meanwhile, @CrazyTalk10 still loves Siri:
If she told on me for the things I said after the last episode of Game Of Thrones, I’d prob be in jail right now.
And Finally:
You have been reading SB Blogwatch by Richi Jennings. Richi curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites … so you don’t have to. Hate mail may be directed to @RiCHi or [email protected]. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE. 30.
Image sauce: Nicolas J Leclercq (via Unsplash)
