<story><title>Is Anyone Listening to You on Alexa? A Global Team Reviews Audio</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-10/is-anyone-listening-to-you-on-alexa-a-global-team-reviews-audio</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bduerst</author><text>By that logic, any device with a microphone and potential to record should not exist.&lt;p&gt;Smart speakers are not telephone calls, and even if they were, federal law only requires consent of one party to record (11 states require all-party consent).&lt;p&gt;In public spaces, you generally lose any right to consent to recording.  If you&amp;#x27;re in someone else&amp;#x27;s home and they record you with their smart speaker device, then your beef is with that person whose private property you&amp;#x27;re being recorded on.  Same as if they were recording you with their phone&amp;#x27;s camera in their private residence, vs recording you in a public space.</text></item><item><author>subway</author><text>&amp;gt; which makes smart speakers basically impossible to exist.&lt;p&gt;Then perhaps in their current form, they shouldn&amp;#x27;t exist. It&amp;#x27;s already illegal to record people without their consent in many states. We shouldn&amp;#x27;t give up this right to privacy for a bit of convenience.</text></item><item><author>ipsum2</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t work for Amazon or Google, but I agree with them in this case.&lt;p&gt;I read through the full text of the bill (&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ilga.gov&amp;#x2F;legislation&amp;#x2F;fulltext.asp?DocName=&amp;amp;SessionId=108&amp;amp;GA=101&amp;amp;DocTypeId=SB&amp;amp;DocNum=1719&amp;amp;GAID=15&amp;amp;LegID=&amp;amp;SpecSess=&amp;amp;Session=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ilga.gov&amp;#x2F;legislation&amp;#x2F;fulltext.asp?DocName=&amp;amp;Sessio...&lt;/a&gt;) and it seems like it sounds like the companies can be sued if one user agrees to a written policy, but then is used by another user (e.g. a spouse or sibling or friend), which makes smart speakers basically impossible to exist. (User identification isn&amp;#x27;t good enough, and even if it were, mistakes can happen)&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; No private
entity may turn on or enable, cause to be turned on or enabled,
or otherwise use a digital device&amp;#x27;s microphone to listen for or
collect information, including spoken words or other audible or
inaudible sounds, unless a user first agrees to a written
policy informing the user[..]</text></item><item><author>Despegar</author><text>Well what a coincidence&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;matthewstoller&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1115991653662195713&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;matthewstoller&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;111599165366219571...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ridgeguy</author><text>I don’t agree. In your example, being in someone else’s home doesn’t put you in a public space for purposes of recording consent.&lt;p&gt;A dumb recording device can’t do something illegal without its owner’s&amp;#x2F;user’s affirmative action. If the homeowner uses the recording thing illegally they’re liable for that use.&lt;p&gt;In contrast, Alexa and similar devices operate on rules built-in by their builders. They do what their builders intend, not what applicable law or their owners require. Liability should rest with the builders.</text></comment>
<story><title>Is Anyone Listening to You on Alexa? A Global Team Reviews Audio</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-10/is-anyone-listening-to-you-on-alexa-a-global-team-reviews-audio</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bduerst</author><text>By that logic, any device with a microphone and potential to record should not exist.&lt;p&gt;Smart speakers are not telephone calls, and even if they were, federal law only requires consent of one party to record (11 states require all-party consent).&lt;p&gt;In public spaces, you generally lose any right to consent to recording.  If you&amp;#x27;re in someone else&amp;#x27;s home and they record you with their smart speaker device, then your beef is with that person whose private property you&amp;#x27;re being recorded on.  Same as if they were recording you with their phone&amp;#x27;s camera in their private residence, vs recording you in a public space.</text></item><item><author>subway</author><text>&amp;gt; which makes smart speakers basically impossible to exist.&lt;p&gt;Then perhaps in their current form, they shouldn&amp;#x27;t exist. It&amp;#x27;s already illegal to record people without their consent in many states. We shouldn&amp;#x27;t give up this right to privacy for a bit of convenience.</text></item><item><author>ipsum2</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t work for Amazon or Google, but I agree with them in this case.&lt;p&gt;I read through the full text of the bill (&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ilga.gov&amp;#x2F;legislation&amp;#x2F;fulltext.asp?DocName=&amp;amp;SessionId=108&amp;amp;GA=101&amp;amp;DocTypeId=SB&amp;amp;DocNum=1719&amp;amp;GAID=15&amp;amp;LegID=&amp;amp;SpecSess=&amp;amp;Session=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ilga.gov&amp;#x2F;legislation&amp;#x2F;fulltext.asp?DocName=&amp;amp;Sessio...&lt;/a&gt;) and it seems like it sounds like the companies can be sued if one user agrees to a written policy, but then is used by another user (e.g. a spouse or sibling or friend), which makes smart speakers basically impossible to exist. (User identification isn&amp;#x27;t good enough, and even if it were, mistakes can happen)&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; No private
entity may turn on or enable, cause to be turned on or enabled,
or otherwise use a digital device&amp;#x27;s microphone to listen for or
collect information, including spoken words or other audible or
inaudible sounds, unless a user first agrees to a written
policy informing the user[..]</text></item><item><author>Despegar</author><text>Well what a coincidence&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;matthewstoller&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1115991653662195713&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;matthewstoller&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;111599165366219571...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>subway</author><text>The telephone is only relevant in some jurisdictions. For instance in Illlinois (an all-party state), you cannot record a private &lt;i&gt;conversation&lt;/i&gt;. There&amp;#x27;s no mention of a phone or telecoms, and you should expect to get sued if you&amp;#x27;re in a conference room recording folks without their consent.</text></comment>