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

[joshuasc2001]

I have a Google home mini in my bedroom, and also have a Chromecast pair with a tv and it's really nice being able to stay all wrapped up in bed and control the tv with my voice and not have to move my arms. Also, its alarm is quite good, timers on it are quite helpful and its speaker isn't bad for playing music. I really like mine and the whole the government is sying on me thing is a load of crap, and even if they are what are they gonna do with it? learn that I spend wayyyyy too much time watching Linus?

[iLostMyXbox21]

This is so sad, alexa, play despacito

[Ashleyyyy]

never ever ever. i'm willing to sacrifice a lot of freedom on my devices for the sake of privacy and security. having one of those in my home completely defeats the purpose of doing that. 

 

just the idea alone that some creep could hack it and listen to everything i say and do... please no. 

[Suika]

I mean yea, I'd love a Google Home Hub and some smart thingies to combine it with. 

 

As somebody who's lightly studied computer network security, I feel perfectly comfortable with these devices. Right after I segregate them onto a different subnet and close a few ports, but perfectly comfortable.

[3 Lions]

 These home assistant things are gimmicks in my opinion. 

[WihGlah]

Well, so long as you like the NSA & GCHQ listening in on your conversations I suppose they are fine....

[Lady Fitzgerald]

On 1/30/2019 at 6:40 AM, 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

I agree. When someone says they have nothing to hide, I tempted to ask them for their Social Security numbers, their bank account numbers and passwords, etc.

 

On 1/30/2019 at 12:22 PM, Age of 9394 said:

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.

Heck, I'm old and disabled and still don't need them.

 

10 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.

Exactly, you get it.

[Tog Driver]

No thanks, things like this that make things more convenient just make it easier to be lazy.

 

It is good to walk around checking if doors are locked, making sure lights are off, and having to get up to change the thermostat.

 

When we get to the point we don't have to move if we don't want to (which is basically already here), what are we going to do? Merge with our favorite couch?

 

and that's not including they might be spying on you, which is harder to comprehend the full picture.

[myselfolli]

16 hours ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

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.

Again, sorry if I stepped on your toes, I didn't mean to come across like a dick.

 

And I am aware that there are a lot of 'ifs' in my concerns, so many even that it won't be relevant for most people. But I go to some lengths to protect my data online, I don't use google, run my own mail server, always use a VPN, I use a different password for every service (and they are usually around 20 characters long), I have my own password manager, since I don't even trust the commercially available ones and so on. And much like @firelighter487 said, having a smart assitant would completely defeat all the work I do in other areas, so it's not for me.

 

To each their own I guess. If you're happy with your smart assitant, go right ahead, but I want peolpe to be aware of the security risks they are willingly taking, plus all the data they are sharing with the service provider of their smart assitant. Think amazon 'randomly' suggesting an article you were just talking about.

 

Also, there's nothing stopping Amazon/Google from selling your data to others, so there wouldn't even have to be a data leak for your information to get around.

[myselfolli]

9 hours ago, Tog Driver said:

No thanks, things like this that make things more convenient just make it easier to be lazy.

 

It is good to walk around checking if doors are locked, making sure lights are off, and having to get up to change the thermostat.

 

When we get to the point we don't have to move if we don't want to (which is basically already here), what are we going to do? Merge with our favorite couch?

 

and that's not including they might be spying on you, which is harder to comprehend the full picture.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

9 hours ago, Tog Driver said:

It is good to walk around checking if doors are locked, making sure lights are off, and having to get up to change the thermostat.

I have to check only one door to be sure it's locked (I never use the other one) and it's right accross the hall from the head so that's not an issue. My home is small enough I can see from almost anywhere if all the lights are off. Besides, I have the habit of turning off lights when I leave a room.

 

Changing the thermostat can be a problem, though. Not because of the effort required; the problem is remembering to do it. So I have mine set up to automatically switch over between furnace and AC (I live in a desert where it isn't unusual to need both the furnace and the AC in the same day). 

[Vulrax]

I’d use them cause what isn’t spying on you at this point, plus I can play Skyrim on the echo