Smart speakers Google Home, Amazon Echo raise privacy fears but how much do they hear?

THEY’RE always listening, sometimes recording, and may be compiling a profile on you. Experts warn Aussies still fear smart speakers.

EVER wondered why Google and Amazon know so much about you? It could be your smart speaker.

The latest artificially intelligent gadgets are recording every question you ask — and some you don’t — and using the information in ways that technology experts warn could surprise wary consumers.

And the warning comes after Amazon was forced to correct a disturbing glitch in its smart speakers this week that saw them randomly start “laughing” at users, and just months after Google’s newest speaker was found recording users’ conversations around the clock.

Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi said while most Australians knew about smart speakers, many were reluctant to buy them as they did not know what they did with their voice recordings or private information.

The Google Home smart speaker officially launched in Australia in July 2017.

“There’s still a lot of fear around what these devices are doing in terms of potentially eavesdropping, and it is still being questioned by consumers,” he said.

“The number one concern around smart speakers and smart hubs is about having anything that listens in and privacy and security concerns around that.”

A survey by NPR and Edison research found 36 per cent of US consumers refused to invest in the technology due to concerns “that smart speakers are always listening”.

Those concerns were heightened this week after reports Amazon Echo speakers had begun laughing at users in an action some commentators described as “bone-chilling”.

The company said it had identified the issue as the speaker mistakenly identifying the phrase, “Alexa laugh,” and it would change the command to avoid further incidents.

“We are also changing Alexa’s response from simply laughter to ‘Sure, I can laugh,’ followed by laughter,” the company said in a statement.

Google’s Home Mini speaker, popular in Australia at Christmas, experienced a more serious glitch at its release when a tester discovered it would record all conversations after its top was tapped twice. Google has since removed the feature.

The new Apple HomePod pictured in February this year. Picture: AAP

Mr Fadaghi said security issues could have a chilling effect on smart speaker sales in Australia, which were already “not as high as we might have thought”.

“Less than 20 per cent of consumers who don’t own a smart speaker intend to purchase one,” he said. “It’s still a technology that is not well understood.”

Technology giants needed to better explain how the devices worked, Mr Fadaghi said, and what they did with users’ voice recordings.

An examination of Google, Amazon, and Apple’s terms of service showed smart speakers from all three operated by “listening” at all times but only recording voices once a “hotword” or “wake word” was used, such as “Hey Google” or “Alexa”.

Both Google and Amazon use recorded information to build profiles of users for advertising purposes or, as Google described it, to “show you ads that are relevant and useful,” and both share some information with third parties whose apps you use with smart speakers.

Apple used information differently, however, and stored questions asked of its HomePod speaker under a “random identifier” that could not be tied to your name or Apple ID.

As a result, advertising did not discount the price of its $499 speaker.

Google Assistant engineering vice-president Scott Huffman told News Corp some users were still “fearful” of what the company did with voice recordings, but said they could access, listen to, and even delete any information gathered from them to allay their concerns.

Amazon’s Echo smart speaker is powered by the Alexa voice assistant.

HOW TO DELETE YOUR SMART SPEAKER HISTORY

Google: Every voice recording saved by Google is available under your account. You can listen to them by visiting myactivity.google.com and selecting Voice & Audio. You can also permanently delete all recordings from your account.

Amazon: All your conversations with Alexa can be accessed from within its accompanying app. From the menu, select Settings, History, and recordings are organised chronologically. You can delete them individually or all at once at amazon.com/mycd.

Apple: You cannot listen to past Siri recordings, unfortunately, but there is a way to wipe them from Apple’s memory. In Settings, General, you can Disable Dictation, though it will restore this information if you turn it on again.

Originally published as Smart speakers Google Home, Amazon Echo raise privacy fears but how much do they hear?