BACKGROUND

Computer devices using microphones for voice control are increasingly prevalent, including devices that are constantly listening and processing audio to allow spontaneous voice commands to be processed at any time. Many of these devices send commands and other data to computer servers which store a massive amount of data in perpetuity.

This poses numerous privacy risks to the public. In many cases, the value presented by perpetually listening computing devices makes it an undesirable trade-off to refrain from using the devices to preserve privacy. In other cases, a person may be unaware they are being listened to. Therefore, systems that protect privacy but allow the listening devices to still provide their intended value are valuable.

SUMMARY

The following summary presents a simplified summary of certain features. The summary is not an extensive overview and is not intended to identify key or critical elements.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for blocking input data from reaching a listening device. A listening device may be configured with one or more microphones or one or more cameras which, in response to a first trigger (e.g., a “wake word”), perform one or more actions. For example, the listening device may be a smart speaker. A blocker, which may be a computing device, may be configured to prevent the listening device from receiving such input data (e.g., via the one or more microphones or the one or more cameras) until a second trigger (which may be the same or similar to the first trigger) has been received. For example, the blocker may intercept audio data or video data, as collected from one or more microphones and/or one or more cameras, from being received by a listening device. As another example, the blocker may play one or more sounds (e.g., white noise, falsified ambient noise that include one or more ambient sounds, noise configured to obfuscate speech, false conversation data) using a speaker directed toward the one or more microphones of the listening device, or the like. The blocker may be configured with one or more second microphones and/or one or more second cameras which retrieve audio and/or video data and monitor such data for the second trigger. The blocker may use the one or more microphones and/or the one or more cameras of the listening device to monitor for the second trigger. For example, the blocker may be a module physically installed in the listening device which intercepts communications from the one or more microphones and/or the one or more cameras. The second trigger may be, e.g., a gesture, spoken command that includes one or more spoken words, or the like, and may be defined by a user (e.g., using a configuration tool associated with the blocker). The blocker may be configured to ignore audio and/or video originating from the listening device such that, for example, the listening device cannot attempt to bypass the blocker. Upon determining the presence of the second trigger, the blocker may permit audio and/or video data to be received by the listening device, e.g., for a predetermined period of time. The blocker may modify such audio and/or video data before transmitting such data to the listening device. For example, the blocker may receive a command, use a language recognition algorithm on the command, use a text-to-speech algorithm to reproduce the command, and output the text-to-speech command via a speaker directed at the one or more microphones of the listening device. The blocker may wait a predetermined period of time before transmitting such data to the listening device.

These and other features and advantages are described in greater detail below.

