Amazon Cloud Cam

[Zorro]

This new Amazon home product is to be released later this month, and no doubt will be very popular. It's being promoted as a benign security feature.

We really are moving into the future surveillance state at a pretty rapid pace, but we're surrendering our privacy to commercial versus government organizations. This trend is disturbing to me.

[SHRED]

1. I wonder about Alexa also

Can we be listened in on?

[MineralMan]

3. If that's a concern for you, I suggest not using such things.

Really. Listening in on me would be an exercise in total boredom, I'm sure. So...I could freely use such a device without concern.

[SHRED]

7. I was just wondering

[MineralMan]

11. Well, clearly Alexa is always listening.

If it were not, it would be useless. So, part of the function of such technology would be to always be listening.

Similarly, security cameras are always watching and recording. If they were not, they would also be useless.

Most people govern their behavior as if someone is always observing them. Most people have an internal monitor that alerts them if they violate the boundaries of their own ethical compass. That monitor is often referred to as the "conscience."

We can have complete privacy if we choose, but that would restrict us to a very small number of life situations. Any time we interact with other people, we necessarily give up some of that privacy. Most of the time, we are observed by others as we act.

That's the reality for social beings like humans.

[SHRED]

12. Well put

[MineralMan]

17. No problem for me. I have no cameras in any room

where such things might take place.

There's one on my computer in my office. It's always off, though, unless I'm using Skype or something.
There's one in my wife's office, too. Off, too.

We don't have any voice-activated assistant things running.

It's a choice people can make. Don't want it? Don't use it.

[Zorro]

4. Of course. Alexa is always listening.

And we can be tracked by our smartphones -- it's how Google and Apple determine traffic conditions, for one example.

It's a Brave New World.

[FSogol]

6. Alexa, Play back the audio of my sex tape!

[SHRED]

8. LOL

[TreasonousBastard]

13. No doubt. OnStar in my car is designed to call in with reports on the car's health...

Which I then get in an email.

it will also call if I push a button on the mirror or if there is an emergency. Something that sophisticated certainly has the ability to be remotely engaged.

Alexa and other such gadgets offer some convenience, but it is scary that how they work is a secret

[ksoze]

2. Then don't buy the products. Its that easy.

No one is forcing these products on anyone. Everything is a trade off - some conveniences have a price in privacy.

[virtualobserver]

5. camera and mic on your phone, tv and laptop to watch and listen to you now

a dedicated camera like this is overkill

[HopeAgain]

9. Privacy?

What is that? Seems most people prefer convenience over privacy. This is probably because Americans have not lived in a truly authoritarian state (yet?).

[Orrex]

10. Or possibly because "privacy" has been an illusion for many decades

[Iggo]

16. LOL..."we".