What Amazon knows about you

[otherclive]

If anyone is interested there’s a very interesting article on the BBC News app detailing an account of Amazons data holding for one individual. He requested details and the sheer scale of Amazons holding is breathtaking. Virtually ever tap on the screen is retained along with voice recordings etc. If anyone has concerns over our security services accessing data then they really should cease using Amazon, Google etc who are doing it every second that you are online and interacting, or just going out and about.

 

[Mike]

''Virtually ever tap on the screen is retained along with voice recordings etc.''

When you say 'voice recordings', is this phone calls to them, or something more sinister such as any phone calls, or 'Alexa' picking up everything said, irrespective of whether you are addressing it?
As for generally being kept tabs on; i think the ship to avoid this has long sailed.

 

[otherclive]

It’s Alexa. But you can have them deleted by Amazon or opt out. But how many do?

 

[camel]

If you have an iphone you have already been tagged by big brother,

 

[otherclive]

If you have an iphone you have already been tagged by big brother,

Yes I knew that tagging and data mining do take place. You get reminded of it when you do a search fir something eg walking boots and for weeks afterwards each time you do a search or just access the web you get ads appear for walking boots on the side of the page. That’s why I use Adblock. But even that isn’t infallible. Any smartphone or connected device is giving your “ life” away. George Orwell must be smiling up there

 

[Raywood]

I would not touch Alexa. The report in todays news suggests that they do listen in from time to time, they say to improve the service.Apparently even people reading out their bank details has turned up and some conversations that the staff thought were funny have been posted. Even their own executives it seems, turn them off when they are not using them.

 

[Mike]

Well Amazon must get hours of fun listening to me generally verbally abusing our Alexa. I have a tendency to make the initial command, having 'Alexa' at the beginning, but then i will make further supplementary requests (but omitting the 'Alexa' bit), which are obviously ignored, which then sets off the abuse. Its only a matter of time until the 'men in white coats' turn up!

 

[Guzzilazz]

The Panorama programme last night (which was the root of the article) claimed "senior ex-employees" were dishing the dirt... They sort of shot themselves in the foot, because none of the ex-staff that I saw left AFTER 2005!!!

None of the stuff they are doing is ANY different from what every other web site is doing, and at least they aren't selling the data on, unlike Facebook and Cambridge Analytics...

 

[otherclive]

The Panorama programme last night (which was the root of the article) claimed "senior ex-employees" were dishing the dirt... They sort of shot themselves in the foot, because none of the ex-staff that I saw left AFTER 2005!!!

None of the stuff they are doing is ANY different from what every other web site is doing, and at least they aren't selling the data on, unlike Facebook and Cambridge Analytics...

Alexa was released in November 2014 so whether the staff left before or after 2005 is somewhat academic.
In effect they are selling data onwards by providing subsets to Market Place sellers. Amazon as you say aren’t unique as all social media and major websites will be doing their share of data collection as will our banks and credit card businesses and a multiplicity of supermarkets and loyalty businesses too. It’s the cyber based world we have been led into.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I admit I don't like the idea the state yet alone commercial companies can simply eaves drop, but unless your involved with something illegal, then who will want to listen in to the normal household chatter?

If we want our police service to prevent terrorist actions rather than just cleaning up afterwards, then some loss of privacy is in my mind a price worth paying.

 

[camel]

This is why the drug dealers and other low life have several mobiles trying to avoid detection but once the cops lock on to them they are nicked guv,

 

[Beehpee]

If Amazon or any other type of tech company wants to listen into my household chatter they are welcome, targeted advertising doesn’t bother me in the slightest because regardless of what adverts they send it’s still up to me whether I act upon the advert and buy something, twice daily and sometimes more often I delete all the spam emails from 2 accounts, it takes me probably less than 30 seconds each time and I delete around 50 such emails daily, does it bother me? Not particularly, I certainly don’t lose sleep over who might be watching and listening, as far as I’m aware I’m breaking no laws so I leave them to it, if it catches even a single terrorist who plans to kill innocent people then its worth it.

BP

 

[Theodore14]

We live in a very peculiar period when it comes to privacy as this term completely lost its meaning. But we have to take things as they are, if you don't want to be 'used' by corporations this way, you should live in the neck of the woods and have no contact with anything tech-related. Otherwise, you have automatically set yourself up for monitoring.

 

[ProfJohnL]

In the UK and probably in most other countries, even before you are born, some of your details have been recorded by health services, then when you are born, your birth has to be registered, and then they have you for life. At each interaction you ever have with another person yet alone any organisation you are giving up some of your privacy.

Now more than ever before, and most likely for all time to come, we are going to have to live with an increasing technology dependant world. Most of us don't want to be totally isolated from society so we have to accept some loss of privacy.

I do not condone the way some people and organisations gather and use information, some methods are criminal and are deliberately intrusive for the wrong reasons (especially advertisers).

Ironically the more secure we want our personal details to be, the more intrusive the security systems need to be to prevent improper access.

 

[Beehpee]

I listened to a discussion on the radio yesterday about photos being taken in maternity wards, apparently there’s a company that is allowed to go into hospital maternity wards and offer to photograph babies that are mere hours old, the pictures are offered for sale and mothers are asked for email addresses etc, the company involved has access to 150 hospital/maternity wards up and down the country, now if that’s not an invasion of privacy then I don’t know what is, I would think after a woman has gone through giving birth it would be the last thing they’d want, the details of the mothers and babies are then passed on to other companies no doubt for a fee.

BP

 

[Raywood]

The point that prevents me even considering this device is that they can and do listen in. People buying over the phone have given out their bank details and the people listening have heard this. This is simply too risky for me to even consider Alexa.
Must be very confusing in house holds where there is someone called Alexa!

 

[otherclive]

Just as confusing as if you call your dog Izzie and Siri springs into life offering to assist you.