Is Alexa Dangerous? - The Atlantic - 0 views
-
Cécile Christodoulou on 09 Oct 18"[...]If you don't happen to work in the tech sector, you probably can't think about all the untapped potential in your Amazon Echo or Google Home without experiencing some misgivings. By now, most of us have grasped the dangers of allowing our most private information to be harvested, stored, and sold. We know how facial-recognition technologies have allowed authoritarian governments to spy on their own citizens; how companies disseminate and monetize our browsing habits, whereabouts, social-media interactions; how hackers can break into our home-security systems and nanny cams and steal their data or reprogram them for nefarious ends. Virtual assistants and ever smarter homes able to understand our physical and emotional states will open up new frontiers for mischief making. Despite the optimism of most of the engineers I've talked with, I must admit that I now keep the microphone on my iPhone turned off and my smart speakers unplugged when I don't plan to use them for a while.[...]"