Proof your smart speaker is eavesdropping on you

“Alexa, is someone else listening?” Amazon basically confirms it’s eavesdropping on your conversations. But can you disable it?

Think twice before barking orders at Alexa, because an Amazon employee may be listening too.

Amazon has confirmed they employ thousands of workers to listen to voice recordings captured by the company’s Echo “smart” speaker devices in people’s homes, according to a Bloomberg report.

Tens of millions of people use smart speakers and their voice software.

While millions of people rely on the voice activated software in their homes, millions more are reluctant to use the devices and their powerful microphones out of concern that someone might be listening. And sometimes, someone is.

Amazon doesn’t call it eavesdropping though. They call it the Alexa voice review process, highlighting the role that humans play in training software algorithms.

“This information helps us train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems, so Alexa can better understand your requests, and ensure the service works well for everyone,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.

Us: “Alexa, is Amazon listening right now?” Alexa: “Yes.” Picture: Ian Currie

Two workers based at Amazon’s Bucharest office told Bloomberg the team is comprised of contractors and full-time Amazon employees around the world, who review “as many as 1000 audio clips per shift”.

Sounds like a huge number of recordings but considering 78 million smart speakers were sold globally last year, the company could be listening to way more.

Amazon said as much in a statement, noting that it only annotates an “extremely small number of interactions from a random set of customers”.

The company also reiterated that it takes the “security and privacy of our customers’ personal information seriously.”

Amazon insists the measures are taken to review and improve Alexa’s voice command capabilities. Picture: Johannes Eisele/AFP

An Amazon worker from Boston also revealed that the listeners occasionally pick up things like a woman singing badly off key in the shower, or a child screaming for help.

So if you think Alexa’s heard you say some pretty embarrassing things, chances are an Amazon worker has too.

Oh, and they share the most amusing recordings (along with the more muddled phrases they struggle to make out) among the team via internal chat rooms. Brilliant.

HOW TO DISABLE THIS FEATURE

If it isn’t your thing, there is a way to prevent Amazon employees from listening in.

The option to share this type of information with Amazon is switched on by default in the Alexa app. But you can turn it off.

1. Open the Alexa app on your phone.

2. Tap the menu button on the top left of the screen.

3. Select “Alexa Account.”

4. Choose “Alexa Privacy.”

5. Select “Manage how your data improves Alexa.”

6. Turn off the button next to “Help Develop New Features.”

7. Turn off the button next to your name under “Use Messages to Improve Transcriptions.”

Alexa users have the option to turn these settings off, but the company told Bloomberg that their voice recordings may still be analysed as part of its review process.

Originally published as Proof your smart speaker is eavesdropping on you