I love it when others suddenly catch up with you and start trying to warn people of stuff you’ve been yelling about forever.
Over on Gizmodo, Adam Clark Estes writes:
Three years ago, we said the Echo was “the most innovative device Amazon’s made in years.” That’s still true. But you shouldn’t buy one. You shouldn’t buy one for your family. You definitely should not buy one for your friends. In fact, ignore any praise we’ve ever heaped onto smart speakers and voice-controlled assistants. They’re bad!
[…]
Actually, it is a big deal. The newfound privacy conundrum presented by installing a device that can literally listen to everything you’re saying represents a chilling new development in the age of internet-connected things. By buying a smart speaker, you’re effectively paying money to let a huge tech company surveil you. And I don’t mean to sound overly cynical about this, either. Amazon, Google, Apple, and others say that their devices aren’t spying on unsuspecting families. The only problem is that these gadgets are both hackable and prone to bugs.
Read more on Gizmodo while Joe tries to stop spluttering….
Correction: Hopefully, What readers should get from this story.
It’s taken Gizmodo THREE years to admit what I’ve been saying for years.
Amazon, Microsoft and EVERY other smart device is designed to do one thing. That is to collect data (spy) one people’s everyday lives.
Don’t even get me started on smart (surveillance) meters.