Here is an updated article with Amazon's reply to the situation. https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/24/17391898/amazon-alexa-private-conversation-recording-explanation
Amazon explains how Alexa recorded a private conversation and sent it to another user Alexa got seriously confused Tom WarrenMay 24, 2018, 5:56pm EDT Amazon has been forced to explain how Alexa recorded a private conversation and sent it to an Echo user’s colleague without their knowledge. A Portland woman identified only as Danielle revealed the odd series of events in an interview with local TV station Kiro 7, claiming that an Amazon Echo device recorded a private conversation between her and her husband and sent the recording to an employee of the husband. In a statement to The Verge, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed this incident took place, but it appears it was an unusual series of Alexa mistaking conversation as commands rather than Alexa spying on users. “Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like “Alexa.” Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a “send message” request. At which point, Alexa said out loud “To whom?” At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, “[contact name], right?” Alexa then interpreted background conversation as “right”. As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.” The incident does sound unlikely, but if you’re an Alexa user then you’ve probably experienced the assistant trigger by itself during conversations. I’ve personally had Alexa start randomly playing songs because it thought it heard me ask for some music to be played. It’s a problem Amazon needs to address in general, but it’s rare to see a case where successive commands mean a recording is sent inadvertently. Alexa was also caught up in a creepy laughing controversy back in March, after the digital assistant mistook common words and phrases to trigger the “Alexa, laugh” command. Alexa seemed to start laughing without being prompted to wake, and affected users responded by unplugging their Alexa-enabled devices. This latest incident will only increase the pressure on Amazon to start more broadly implementing its voice recognition feature to avoid these unusual problems. > On May 25, 2018, at 2:12 AM, Sieghard Weitzel <[email protected]> wrote: > > They say Alexa "recorded audio" and "emailed" it to a random contact. I > didn't even know Alexa can record an audio conversation or sent emails. > What do you say to Alexa so it starts recording what you say and how does > Alexa know it should stop recording your voice, i.e. how does it know if you > say "Alexa, stop" that is a command and not part of the audio recording? > > Regards, > Sieghard > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of M. > Taylor > Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2018 10:21 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Amazon Alexa creepily recorded, sent out family's conversations, USA > Today > > Hello Everyone, > > As so many of us use iOS to configure Alexa, file the following article under > the heading, F.Y.I. (smile). > > Mark > > Alexa creepily recorded a family's private conversations, sent them to > business associate By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY Updated 5 hours ago > > SAN FRANCISCO - A Portland family's private conversations were recorded by > their Amazon Echo smart speaker and emailed to a random phone contact of the > father, they told a local TV station. > Amazon explained that an unforseen combination of random words in a > conversation the family didn't realize was being overheard by Alexa trigged > an action no one expected, least of all Amazon, which is now working to make > sure it doesn't happen again. > The Oregon family contacted Amazon to investigate after a private > conversation in their home was recorded by their Amazon Echo - the > voice-controlled smart speaker - and the recorded audio was sent to the phone > of someone in Seattle who was in the father's contact list. > "My husband and I would joke and say I'd bet these devices are listening to > what we're saying," Danielle, who did not want us to use her last name, told > KIRO TV in Seattle. > The family's house has multiple Echo devices that control heating, lights and > security system. > At first they didn't believe it when the colleague called to tell them he'd > received recordings of their conversations. But when he told them they'd been > talking about hardwood floors, they realized he wasn't joking. > "I felt invaded," the woman told the television station. > > More: The creepiest Amazon Alexa stories ever > More: Amazon Echo or Google Home? For U.S. households, that's changing > More: Amazon's Alexa will be built into all new homes from Lennar > > How it happened > Reached by USA TODAY, Amazon offered an explanation of how the highly > unlikely and yet not impossible series of events played out. > First, Amazon said, the Echo woke up when someone in the home said something > that sounded to it like "Alexa." > Next, the subsequent conversation included something that, to Alexa, sounded > like a "send a message" request. > At which point, Alexa said out loud, "To whom?" > Next, Alexa interpreted the background conversation as a name in the > customers' contact list. > Alexa then asked, again out loud, "[Contact name], right?" > Alexa then interpreted background conversation as confirming with, "Right." > While such an improbable string of events doesn't happen every day, with > millions of smart speakers in American homes hearing tens of millions of > conversations, it's with the realm of probablity. > In this instance, a random series of disconnected conversations got > interpreted by Alexa as a specific and connected series of commands. > It doesn't appear that the family members actually heard Alexa asking who it > should send a message to, or confirming that it should be sent. > That's probably a function of how good the Echo's far field voice recognition > is. Each speaker has seven microphones which are arrayed so the cylindrical > speaker can pick up voice commands from far away or even in noisy rooms with > lots of conversations going on. > Amazon says it is evaluating options to make cases such as happened to the > Portland family less likely. > But given that Forrester predicts by 2020 almost 50% of American households > will contain a smart speaker, expect more such confusions in the future. > Originally Published 4:00 p.m. PDT May 24, 2018 Updated 5 hours ago > > Original Article at: > https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2018/05/24/amazon-alexa-cree > pily-recorded-sent-out-familys-conversations/642852002/ > > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. 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