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Even by Amazon standards, this is extraordinarily sleazy: from Mar 28, each Amazon Echo device will cease processing audio on-device and instead upload all the audio it captures to Amazon's cloud for processing, even if you have previously opted out of cloud-based processing:

arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/0…

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2025/03/15/alt…

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Lisa Melton reshared this.

in reply to Cory Doctorow

One should always follow XKCDs advice about listening devices, just in case.

XKCD Alt-text "Sure you could just ask, but this also takes care of the host-gift thing"

in reply to Cory Doctorow

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This entry was edited (2 days ago)
in reply to Cory Doctorow

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in reply to Cory Doctorow

the highest p/e industry is health, which is especially disturbing when you consider politicians investment incentives... A public option could hurt some of them a lot. Stopping the expansion of monopolies is bad because they're the high-growth parts of their portfolios

Allowing politicians to invest such that they're aligned against their constituents opens the door to abuse. And that's without considering lobbying, cushy post-politics jobs, speaking gigs, book deals and the like.

in reply to Cory Doctorow

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in reply to Cory Doctorow

Oh look at that! They're turning them into surveillance and storage devices. Who ever thought that could happen?! 🙄
in reply to Cory Doctorow

Bezos is SO in the tank for Trump at this point. Bribes-via-Apprentice rights, this...

Cory Doctorow reshared this.

in reply to Cory Doctorow

Bezos is so disgusting. You know he designed that amazon smile logo to resemble his penis, just like the rocket.
in reply to Cory Doctorow

good lord ! that i'm transitioning from aws to alternate service !
in reply to Cory Doctorow

@arstechnica "Attempting to rationalize the change, Amazon’s email said:"

Whoop! Journalists just learned how to quote the "allegedly nefarious".

This is a historic day!

This entry was edited (2 days ago)
in reply to Cory Doctorow

This is an interesting read for anyone who has even an inkling of understanding the need of digital privacy in todays age…

Cory Doctorow reshared this.

in reply to Cory Doctorow

Remember when people found out this was already happening years ago? Then Amazon’s execs said “oops we didn’t mean to!”

npr.org/2023/06/01/1179381126/…

There is a fix though. Throw it into a dumpster.

in reply to Cory Doctorow

Unplug it. There are many products out there that respect people's privacy. In the good old times 80s and 90s I was always a bit skeptical of invasion of privacy claims simply because there was not such political polarization and law enforcement was fairly independent. Now I am convinced that if a company is recording you and their founder gave Trump a million dollars at their inauguration DO NOT trust that company at all. There may come a time when free speech becomes illegal.
in reply to Cory Doctorow

Part time and full time ( USA )(AUS)(CA) jobs
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in reply to Cory Doctorow

just in case you needed one more reason to cancel your Amazon account. I dropped mine the day the Washington Post non-endorsement broke. I honestly do not miss it
in reply to Cory Doctorow

When I was left with 2 Echo(s) due to family deaths, I gave them away. No way I would ever even power them on and let them see WiFi.

#OpSec

in reply to Cory Doctorow

people should be allowed returns and refunds when they do stuff like this.

Cory Doctorow reshared this.

in reply to Cory Doctorow

What constitutes a digital lock? It seems to me that the only difference between a flag that prevents an action being taken by a program, and a cryptographically secure block on an action is the amount of time required to make the action doable; the intention behind an option flag and a cryptographic lock are identical — stopping something from happening. Why is ignoring a user-set option flag not circumventing a digital lock and so illegal under the DMCA?
in reply to Cory Doctorow

That then comes down to implementation details and would be denied by finding that the implementation is defective. Is any defective implementation of a lock not a lock? By definition, if a lock can be defeated, it's not an effective means of access control. Obviously being facetious here, but it does point to the idiocy of the legislation.
in reply to Cory Doctorow

Altering the deal is pretty par for the course with Amazon products. I dunno why people are still surprised.
in reply to Cory Doctorow

This probably means a blind friend of mine who keeps Echo on 24/7 will have all their intimate conversations with carers kept as data. Stuff such as catheterisation, mobility, diet, relationships that will come back to him as advertising.

Edit: I’m obviously barking up the wrong tree re: several aspects of Echo listening in. I appreciate the conversation this then started. I think the take away is: at what point after wake up does Echo/Alexa stop listening if it’s not told to stop.

This entry was edited (16 hours ago)

Cory Doctorow reshared this.

in reply to Cory Doctorow

TBH, I assumed that Amazon was *already* doing that and so have never had one.

I'm sure they've been doing it all along, someone threatened to blow the whistle, and this is the result.

in reply to Cory Doctorow

Wean yourself from Amazon's Echo and Alexa, or pay a price you'll never see.
in reply to Cory Doctorow

Wow well that's it. Destroying all my Echo devices before then

Does this apply to other Alexa devices like Dots?

in reply to Cory Doctorow

I have offered my very sharp hatchet, my bench vise, and my collection of beefy hammers on loan to anybody wishing to correct this.

Cory Doctorow reshared this.

in reply to Cory Doctorow

the best time to not have an Amazon device in your home :- the first time you thought of buying one.
Second best time :- today!
in reply to Cory Doctorow

Concentration of power is the disease and "consumer welfare" style anti-trust is the infection point. But now it's metastasised to include no meaningful privacy, regulatory capture, Citizens United etc.

The US needs meaningful anti-trust but how can that be achieved when politicians and agencies are bought and paid for. Even Biden didn't prioritize this meta policy except for the very meaningful appointment of Linda Khan.

Cory Doctorow reshared this.

in reply to Cory Doctorow

I used to have an Echo Show next to my bed. I was recently divorced and I just started dating. I hope whomever was listening on the other end heard some shit.