While reading the long read entitled, “Smart talking: are our devices threatening our privacy” I found that the author, James Vlahos, seemed way too paranoid regarding the issue of whether or not smart listening devices are breaching our privacy. First off, these devices all have a trigger word/phrase (Alexa, hey Google, etc.) that can only function by monitoring your voice. If you don’t want that feature to work, then disable active listening and use the manual activation. It has been proven that the recording part only occurs after the trigger word is said, and stops after the request has finished. Now, companies have even given the users direct control over the ability to view and manage the logs containing all of the stored conversations, which means that they can delete any unwanted conversation from their record.
The reason I say Vlahos is paranoid is because he is making it seem like it would be the end of the world if someone were to get their hands on his logs. To counter Vlahos, there isn’t really any harm that can be done if someone steals a record of him saying “Hey Google, what time is it in Alaska?” I’d also assume that the only people on the company's side of things that would have access to the logs must have attained a certain level of trust in order to be in their position which makes it very unlikely that they will be going through the user’s information.
Vlahos also seemed to bring up the threat of hackers a lot. He fails to realize how difficult it would be to breach companies as large as Amazon and Google. A hacker also doesn’t really have any gain from viewing other people’s voice logs which makes it unlikely that there are people constantly trying to gain access to private audio clips.
-Hunter Wood
I wouldn't necessarily say that the author Vlahos was completely untrue because in the past the American government can hack into a device in order to gain access to its contents like for example when Apple refused to give access to the San Bernardino shooter's phone so the FBI was able to hack into it themselves. However, this goes without saying that even though the government could hack into your devices it took a team days in order to hack into one device so I actually agree that the existence of one mass listening device doesn't exist and all these ideas just stem from their own paranoia.
ReplyDeleteI agree that these ideas stem from their own paranoia. Just like what Hunter said, what is the worse someone is going to ask their phone? If they want to keep their questions hidden, then they can just delete it right after. If they truely believe don't want their phone to be listening, then they are always able to disable it through the settings. I don't understand what the fuss is about because it just makes it easier for one to do certain actions while their hands are full.
DeleteI do agree that some are overly paranoid about their smart listening devices. However, individual privacy should still be of some concern to the average person. Hacking a device isn’t necessarily the same as hacking into a major corporation. People can easily risk their information by installing malicious software on their devices and allowing third party access to their files. Companies usually implement several layers of security on their products, but they are largely useless if people willingly grant access to their information. Thus, the concern around hacking and privacy can be mitigated if people are more aware of how they use their phones and computers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying but the problem comes when you had some kind personal information stored in your logs. I don't know what it could be but if I were to say something personal while the device is activated then my privacy is compromised.
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