How would you feel about having an Amazon Echo or Google Home in your home?

[soldier_ph]

I'd want one because there are always questions coming up at the lunch/dinner table and also just for lolz.

[myselfolli]

19 hours ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

I have a Google Home Mini in my office, very useful. I don't really mind the possible security implication, as I have nothing to hide.

I hate the 'I have nothing to hide' argument. If that's the basis we're going off of, I should stop locking my front door, because I have nothing to hide there either. Gun lockers? Nah, I'm allowed to have guns, I don't need to lock them away, I don't have to hide them...

 

Stupid argument really

[myselfolli]

9 hours ago, Gix7Fifty said:

My son gave me an echo dot for Christmas, I love to use the announce feature to harass my wife!

That is the only acceptable way of using your smart assistant I've seen in this thread thus far

[Lilninjsways]

while I have nothing to hide I also have no use for them in my life... what am i gonna do? not pick up my phone for 10 seconds to look at the weather channel for how cold it is at the moment?

[Giganthrax]

I wouldn't have them in my home.

 

I couldn't care less for spying. Let them listen to me while I fart and play video games, I don't care.

 

What I don't want is to have to give out voice commands. Who the hell wants to be constantly spelling things out to devices?

[Bananasplit_00]

lemme pay for a shitty voice assistant that is potentially listening in 24/7! yah fuck that. 

[Steemax]

I find it nice, every morning it tells me the weather and traffic before heading off to work and a few headline news. I use it to control all the lights, turn on and off my computers, my fish tank etc. 

 

I don't understand the concern about the spying thing... safe to say just about everyone already has a smart phone in their pocket listening to them... Ever talk about a product with someone only to find an ad for it two seconds later while scrolling down instagram or FB?....  yup 

[Age of 9394]

I have two hand and feet, why do I need a robot to do simple things?

I think this kind of technology is for disabled people or old people.

[AqHu]

10 hours ago, myselfolli said:

Stupid argument really

No, it's not a "stupid argument"...

First of all, it isn't even an argument! @SenpaiKaplan was just sharing his opinion. Obviously, the possible privacy infringement of an Google Home Mini doesn't bother him.

Second, it's not stupid at all! Your rebuttal is quite fallacious; a healthy concern for physical safety is totally different from allowing A.I. into the office for the sake of convenience.

Edited January 31, 2019 by AqHu

[SenKa]

10 hours ago, myselfolli said:

I hate the 'I have nothing to hide' argument. If that's the basis we're going off of, I should stop locking my front door, because I have nothing to hide there either. Gun lockers? Nah, I'm allowed to have guns, I don't need to lock them away, I don't have to hide them...

 

Stupid argument really

As @AqHu said. A google home mini wont let people in your home, nor will it give free access to your firearms. But such an emotionally biased argument on security with no evidence or even loose facts to back it up (and I glady admit to the fact that there is plenty of research into the security risks a smart home assistant brings. And when the time comes that I will be handling secure documents I will not have one for those very possible risks) is all I could come to expect from a guy with an anonymous pfp 

[SenKa]

1 hour ago, AqHu said:

No, it's not a "stupid argument"...

First of all, it isn't even an argument! @SenpaiKaplan was just sharing his opinion. Obviously, the possible privacy infringement of an Echo Mini doesn't bother him.

Second, it's not stupid at all! Your rebuttal is quite fallacious; a healthy concern for physical safety is totally different from allowing A.I. into the office for the sake of convenience.

Also small correction. I have a Google Home mini, not an echo dot. The latter of which has been found to be passive listening in and collecting data for whatever Amazon does with it.

[AqHu]

17 minutes ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

Also small correction. I have a Google Home mini, not an echo dot. The latter of which has been found to be passive listening in and collecting data for whatever Amazon does with it.

Oh, OK. I've edited my original comment.

[Guest]

Honestly, it would make me feel a bit higher tech, but I live in a low tech family. I guess it would add a neat aesthetic. However, I don't have much use for one at the time, but if I came up with a good reason to buy one, at least they aren't very expensive. 

[THraShArD]

No chance, not even free.  Unless the Corporate Pigs pay ME $500+ a month

[Drak3]

I'm not such a lazy slob that these wastes of silicon are somehow even remotely useful.

[Eaglerino]

I thought I was against it but I have a cell phone which really isn't any different so I don't think it would bother me that badly. Still wouldn't pay for one

[myselfolli]

12 hours ago, AqHu said:

No, it's not a "stupid argument"...

First of all, it isn't even an argument! @SenpaiKaplan was just sharing his opinion. Obviously, the possible privacy infringement of an Google Home Mini doesn't bother him.

Second, it's not stupid at all! Your rebuttal is quite fallacious; a healthy concern for physical safety is totally different from allowing A.I. into the office for the sake of convenience.

I wasn't trying to step on any toes, I was just sharing my thoughts on this very argument (which I've heard as such a number of times before), sorry if it came across a bit harsh.

 

I still stand by what I said though. Not locking your front door is also more convenient than locking in, nobody in their right minds would do it though, because the security risks are a lot more obvious than having an AI eavesdropping on you 24/7 (which let's be honest they all do anyways, voice activation wouldn't be possible otherwise). You may not be putting yourself in danger physically, at least not directly that is, but you're still putting yourself out there as far as sharing very much private information about yourself is concerned.

[myselfolli]

11 hours ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

As @AqHu said. A google home mini wont let people in your home, nor will it give free access to your firearms. But such an emotionally biased argument on security with no evidence or even loose facts to back it up (and I glady admit to the fact that there is plenty of research into the security risks a smart home assistant brings. And when the time comes that I will be handling secure documents I will not have one for those very possible risks) is all I could come to expect from a guy with an anonymous pfp 

I don't really know where your frustration towards my post is coming from and I don't really understand what point you're trying to make concerning my profile picture, but alright, I'll reiterate.

 

My point is just, that since every voice command you tell your smart Assistant is sent to a server of the serive provider, analyzing the voice commands and responding with such high accuracy simply wouldn't be possible otherwise. And since every voice command you say is being sent, all it takes is for someone to not be cautios when being arround your smart assitant and telling someone else in the room some confidential piece of information (think credit card information maybe, just for the sake of my argument) - and Google/Amazon whoever has that information. All it takes now is for yet another data leak to occur or someone going off the rails and using that information maliciously and you're in for some fun.

 

And that risk, however small it may be, is still present and thus too big for me to save myself three seconds by having my smart assistant telling me the weather rather than checking it myself.

[SenKa]

5 hours ago, myselfolli said:

I don't really know where your frustration towards my post is coming from and I don't really understand what point you're trying to make concerning my profile picture, but alright, I'll reiterate.

 

My point is just, that since every voice command you tell your smart Assistant is sent to a server of the serive provider, analyzing the voice commands and responding with such high accuracy simply wouldn't be possible otherwise. And since every voice command you say is being sent, all it takes is for someone to not be cautios when being arround your smart assitant and telling someone else in the room some confidential piece of information (think credit card information maybe, just for the sake of my argument) - and Google/Amazon whoever has that information. All it takes now is for yet another data leak to occur or someone going off the rails and using that information maliciously and you're in for some fun.

 

And that risk, however small it may be, is still present and thus too big for me to save myself three seconds by having my smart assistant telling me the weather rather than checking it myself.

Thats a lot of ifs.

 

If somebody happens to be saying something confidental while you're talking to your smart speaker/whatever

If there happens to be a data leak

If they happen to send this data back to HQ unencrypted (Amazon is on record saying they encrypt all transmissions to and from their datacenters. I'm unaware if Google does or not)

 

All of those if's would have to line up perfectly, and I just don't see it. Firstly, I dont know of a single person that would announce their credit card info within the relm of noise activation for a google home mini (which mine is right next to me. I tested it by mumbling "okay google" at the volume I would if I were mumbling something I was typing into a website, say, a credit card. It did not respond). It requires a volume near that of natural human speech, and I sincerely hope you dont say anything confidential at that volume.

 

Is it theoretically possible? Yes. But with just as strong of a chance is the virtual assistant built into your phone. Siri, Bixby, Google Assistant, and whatever other ones may be out there. In fact, the chance is even greater since your phone spends most of its time in a pocket, thus more interaction with more people and an even greater chance than an average household.

 

I personally only use my Google Home Mini to play music and basic search queries while I couldn't easily reach a keyboard. (I do PC/Laptop repair from home, and usually dont have space to use my PC and repair the device infront of me unless it is an ultrabook). My parents have an Alexa, and use it as a hub for a couple smart light switches and basic search queries. I, and literally nobody else, should or would ever consider a fully integrated smart home, however. And once you up the number of devices that can listen, your theory becomes much more probable. Even then its a stretch, but atleast within the relm of probability. I also didn't, and never would pay retail for a smart assistant device. My Home Mini was $10, and my parents bought 2 Echo Dot's for ~$30.

 

I understand your concern as addressed above, but your first comment to me was out right malicious and made you come across like a dick.

[AqHu]

6 hours ago, myselfolli said:

I wasn't trying to step on any toes, I was just sharing my thoughts on this very argument (which I've heard as such a number of times before), sorry if it came across a bit harsh.

 

I still stand by what I said though. Not locking your front door is also more convenient than locking in, nobody in their right minds would do it though, because the security risks are a lot more obvious than having an AI eavesdropping on you 24/7 (which let's be honest they all do anyways, voice activation wouldn't be possible otherwise). You may not be putting yourself in danger physically, at least not directly that is, but you're still putting yourself out there as far as sharing very much private information about yourself is concerned.

Oh, OK... No worries; I can totally relate.

[Noctus]

Already have an Echo Plus, use it daily. Can quite happily control my lighting, change room to movie mode with my projector/screen, set up routines, check traffic /weather while im getting ready. It's quite useful.

[mr moose]

The invention of the remote control and microwave food led to an obesity problem, not having to move anything other than your mouth to turn on lights, ask google a question or turn off the tv will lead to a morbid obesity problem. 

 

I believe it leads too a mindset of doing the least amount of physical work to get the desired result, I see no real point, if you forgot to lock the doors, arm the alarm or turn of the lights when you get in bed then having to get out of bed is a good way to help you remember next time. Just being able to tell a device to fix it means you may not even remember to do that next time.

[TempestCatto]

I'm quite far from old, but I'm of the belief that they spy on you. Much like any "smart" device really. I don't own a smart phone for similar reasons. I'm a very paranoid person, and like many others it will be hard to change my mind. I am a set in my ways kinda person. When I stayed at a close friend's house who had Amazon's Echo, I unplugged them. All she could do was laugh, but I wasn't about to have it listen to me babble to myself about why the cat won't let me pet him. Same with any other IOT, they aren't secure and are easily used for all sorts of nastiness (which doesn't always hurt the user either). The smartest device I'll ever own is my PC, and my android tablet. Other than that, I don't even want a "smart" tv either. I don't want all the extra faff, I just want to use it as big display. Is that too little for this ever hungry society? (yes, yes it is). 

[LinusOnLine]

On 1/29/2019 at 2:33 PM, WereCatf said:

Considering that neither of those devices understand Finnish, I would find it quite useless!

No Swedish either

[LinusOnLine]

On 1/30/2019 at 6:34 PM, Steemax said:

Ever talk about a product with someone only to find an ad for it two seconds later while scrolling down instagram or FB?

That stuff is scary. It is interesting that most people have never made the connection but when you tell them how it works they realize how common stuff like that is. Same with friend suggestions on FB.