<story><title>NH judge orders Amazon to give Echo recordings in murder case</title><url>https://www.wmur.com/article/nh-judge-orders-amazon-to-give-echo-recordings-in-double-homicide-case/24893714</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>danso</author><text>I know that this article itself doesn’t have much content but I’m interested in what the police are actually requesting, and what they end up getting. Do they assume&amp;#x2F;suspect that Echo&amp;#x2F;Amazon continuously records and logs audio, akin to a security camera? Or do they have evidence that Echo was actually activated around the time of the murders, or afterwards by the suspect himself?&lt;p&gt;I was also interested in this quote:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;I think most people probably don&amp;#x27;t even realize that Alexa is taking account of what&amp;#x27;s going on in your house, in addition to responding to your demands and commands,&amp;quot; said Albert Scherr, a professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is it that users don’t realize? Anecdotally, just about everyone I know who has refused to have an Echo do so because they believe Echo is doing far more surreptitious surveillance and analysis, i.e. not just listening for the trigger word. Though I’m sure most users don’t realize that when Alexa does trigger, she sends the audio to the Amazon mothership, which are then stored&amp;#x2F;analyzed for an indefinite time. Though most people don’t realize the most basic things about data, like how when you friend someone on FB, FB actually stores a log of your friends, and any other kind of stated interaction, such as the users you’ve blocked</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>danso</author><text>To answer my own question, other outlets have some extra bits of info:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.unionleader.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;crime&amp;#x2F;judge-orders-amazon-to-produce-recordings-from-echo-device-seized&amp;#x2F;article_8927285e-b8ac-5997-a283-6c18d7ada0ab.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.unionleader.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;crime&amp;#x2F;judge-orders-amazon-to...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Union-Leader quotes the district attorney&amp;#x27;s request, which seems to have cognizance of how Echo works:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;On Oct. 30, Senior Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward asked Houran to direct Amazon.com to produce any recordings made between Jan. 27 and Jan. 29, 2017, suggesting evidence of the crime of murder and&amp;#x2F;or hindering apprehension of prosecution could be found on the device.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;“As part of the normal functioning of an Echo electronic device activated either intentionally or accidentally by ‘wake up words,’ audio recordings are made of the moment when the device is activated,” Ward wrote.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;“Specifically, when the Echo detects a ‘wake up word(s),’ the device begins audio recording through its integrated microphones, including recording the fraction of a second of audio before the ‘wake up word(s),’” Ward continued.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;The motion, which was made in lieu of an application for a search warrant, also asks for information identifying cellular devices that were paired to that smart speaker in that time period.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;If there&amp;#x27;s one thing these kinds of stories have effected in me, it&amp;#x27;s the knowledge that I should scream &amp;quot;Alexa!&amp;quot; (or maybe Siri&amp;#x2F;OK Google depending on which room) right before I get murdered in my own home.</text></comment>
<story><title>NH judge orders Amazon to give Echo recordings in murder case</title><url>https://www.wmur.com/article/nh-judge-orders-amazon-to-give-echo-recordings-in-double-homicide-case/24893714</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>danso</author><text>I know that this article itself doesn’t have much content but I’m interested in what the police are actually requesting, and what they end up getting. Do they assume&amp;#x2F;suspect that Echo&amp;#x2F;Amazon continuously records and logs audio, akin to a security camera? Or do they have evidence that Echo was actually activated around the time of the murders, or afterwards by the suspect himself?&lt;p&gt;I was also interested in this quote:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;I think most people probably don&amp;#x27;t even realize that Alexa is taking account of what&amp;#x27;s going on in your house, in addition to responding to your demands and commands,&amp;quot; said Albert Scherr, a professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is it that users don’t realize? Anecdotally, just about everyone I know who has refused to have an Echo do so because they believe Echo is doing far more surreptitious surveillance and analysis, i.e. not just listening for the trigger word. Though I’m sure most users don’t realize that when Alexa does trigger, she sends the audio to the Amazon mothership, which are then stored&amp;#x2F;analyzed for an indefinite time. Though most people don’t realize the most basic things about data, like how when you friend someone on FB, FB actually stores a log of your friends, and any other kind of stated interaction, such as the users you’ve blocked</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>thsowers</author><text>&amp;gt; Though I’m sure most users don’t realize that when Alexa does trigger, she sends the audio to the Amazon mothership, which are then stored&amp;#x2F;analyzed for an indefinite time.&lt;p&gt;Additionally, Amazon receives several seconds of audio _before_ the trigger word was used&lt;p&gt;Edit: I can&amp;#x27;t find a source for this, but IIRC this was part of the initial Echo roll out, and one of the reasons I decided not to purchase. Perhaps Amazon has changed this so now it only listens and sends data after the wakeword.&lt;p&gt;It does appear to have been updated: &amp;quot;When you use the wake word, the audio stream includes a fraction of a second of audio before the wake word, and closes once your request has been processed.&amp;quot;[0]&lt;p&gt;[0]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;gp&amp;#x2F;help&amp;#x2F;customer&amp;#x2F;display.html?nodeId=201602230&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;gp&amp;#x2F;help&amp;#x2F;customer&amp;#x2F;display.html?nodeId=...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>