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Concerned about your privacy and online security when using Alexa? You are not alone – and Amazon recently confirmed that they might be keeping these recordings for an “indefinite” period.
Recent reports have shown that the Alexa smart assistant from Amazon might be a culprit behind the fact that many people feel technology is invading on their privacy. Not only do people have to worry about their smart home systems being hacked, but not it seems like private data is being used and stored by Amazon itself.
Amazon Alexa Already In Millions Of Homes
At the end of 2018, Amazon released a report that claimed they had sold “tens of millions of devices,” referring to the popular Echo. The Echo is a smart home device, serving as a type of speaker with a built-in microphone. It is loaded with the Amazon Alexa virtual assistant, which uses artificial intelligence technology that aims to make life more convenient to the user – and when Alexa gives the user problems, the community behind this AI technology has a lot of useful resources for the average person.
Over 60,000 devices are already compatible with the Alexa virtual assistant, and the technology has been equipped with more than 90,000 skills. At least 8.2 million people were in possession of the official Amazon Echo by 2017. In the United States, 73% of all smart speakers sold in the country are from Amazon.
Amazon Alexa Privacy Problems Being Addressed
A Democrat from the state of Delaware, Sen. Chris Coons, wrote a letter to the Amazon company back in May this year. The letter was addressed to Jeff Bezos, the CEO of the Amazon brand. Chris Coons addressed recent concerns regarding transcripts and voice recordings being stored by the Alexa platform.
When a user makes a request to any device that is equipped with Alexa, a voice recording is made and then processed by the smart technology in the cloud. This voice recording is then saved on the device – but it seems like there is a saved copy sent toward the cloud server that the AI runs on too.
Users have the ability to delete their existing voice recordings from the device that runs Alexa, but some concerns have been raised that not all of these files are deleted upon the user’s actions.
A response was submitted by Brian Huseman, vice president of public policy at Amazon, on the 28th of June. In response, Brian tells Chris Coons that Amazon keeps all voice recordings, as well as a transcript of all commands given to the Alexa virtual assistants, for an indefinite period. The letter also mentioned that the user has the ability to delete voice recordings that have been stored on their Echo or another device that is compatible with Alexa, but this does not delete all of the recordings that are made through the AI platform.
Learning how to make the Alexa device more secure is a critical factor that all users should consider right away, especially following the response from an Amazon official.
What Users Of Amazon Alexa Need To Consider?
Those who have already purchased an Amazon Echo or device compatible with Alexa should realize those voice recordings held by the platform are considered personal data. This means that there does seem to be a breach of privacy among the users of the Alexa virtual assistant.
No specific details have been given in terms of how many recordings will not be deleted or if there are any criteria used to determine which files will be kept on the server.
Deleting voice recordings more frequently is one particularly important step that people need to take. To avoid hacking, it is also crucial to ensure the password that is associated with the Alexa device is strong.
When the device is not in use, switching it off is a good idea. If the user does not want to wait for it to load up again every time, then they should at least ensure they turn off the microphone when they are not using the device for a while.
Amazon Alexa Users Are Not Feeling Safe With New Reports Of Security Issues Surfacing
With Amazon’s Alexa AI technology loaded on millions of devices, a concern has been raised after the company behind the virtual assistant admitted that personal data is stored “indefinitely.” Detailed information on the usage of the data has not been presented, but people are concerned still that their private information, in the form of recordings and transcripts, is being kept on the company’s servers.
