I bought the Echo Dot (Alexa) over the Christmas holidays for $25. If anyone had said I would enjoy a silly speaker this much, I would have thought them crazy.

I listen to music all day, get current temp and weather report, find out football game scores, get stats of players, listen to a joke now and then - lots of other things. Alexa even notifies me when Amazon delivers a package.

Just amazing. Everyone should have one of these or maybe the Google Home device. However I cringe at the Google device that has a camera and would not buy one of those.

bump

Whenever I encounter anything like that I order 400 cases of Charmin and a brand new Toyota truck...

Then you're ok with a machine that listens to everything you say?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/business/amazon-alexa-conversation-shared-echo.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/12/21/alexa-user-able-access-thousands-recordings-astranger-due-human/

Sharing with friends and partners is the best part...

Not a problem for me.

Courts are now regularly issuing subpoenas for people's alexas, echos and google voice devices. The government wants to know whether you have been naughty or nice.

You've got nothing to hide right? So....merely download all the contents of the Alexa device and take it to your local police department three times a week. You don't want to hold out on them now, do you?

Link?

__________________
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- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Really? Doesn't the search engine on your browser work?

https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/14/amazon-echo-recordings-judge-murder-case/

http://www.americancriminallawreview.com/files/5114/9515/4188/ALEXA_AND_THIRD_PARTIES_REASONABLE_EXPECTATION_OF_PRIVACY_FINAL.pdf

A bit of a gray area regarding "reasonable expectations of privacy" and "voluntarily disclosed to third parties" but a very arguable point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-party_doctrine

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― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now

tyl604 - There are all kinds of things wrong with the kind of mindset that says, "Not a problem for me" as a response to the notion of covert surveillance by the government. If you're an American, there's an aspect of paramount importance that is being overlooked by thinking that way: We The People must collectively be vigilant about always guarding and protecting our liberties and freedom; and be on the look-out for the gradual encroachment of them - for that is how they can be lost.

Glenn Greenwald, one of the few integritous Journalists that exists today, expressed this far more eloquently than I can, in his TEDTalk "Why Privacy Matters" - here's a most profound excerpt from his lecture:

"A society in which people can be monitored at all times, is a society that breeds conformity and obedience and submission - which is why every tyrant, from the most overt to the most subtle, craves that system. When we allow a society to exist in which we're subject to constant monitoring, we allow the essence of human freedom to be severely crippled. A system of mass surveillance suppresses our own freedom in all sorts of ways ... it renders 'off-limits' all kinds of behavioral choices without our even knowing that it's happened. The renowned socialist activist Rosa Luxemburg said, "He who does not move does not notice his chains."
.... Glenn Greenwald, "Why Privacy Matters" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcSlowAhvUk

Note: Glenn Greenwald is the Journalist with whom Whistleblower Edward Snowden entrusted the information when he tipped us off about the unlawful surveillance program the NSA was using to spy on American citizens under the guise of "national security." Snowden was proof that indeed, one person can make a difference.

__________________
Baby Benz Sandra

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." ... Benjamin Franklin

1984 190D 2.2 W201 Baby Benz:
290,000 miles and still going strong; my daily driver
Motorcars of the past:
1973 Mercedes-Benz 220D
1973 Porsche 914 2.0
1969 Volkswagen Bug (Bought it brand new in '69 - the list price back then: a mere $1799!!)

I was gifted a Google assistant for Xmas but I haven't opened the manufacturer's packaging yet. Will try to set it up today.

I had to sign up for Amazon music at $4 per month but now I just say "play classical music" or "play Franz Joseph Haydn" and have great music all the time.

Or say "play Santana Abraxis" and have great music of a different kind.

Or say "play Tex Ritter Blood on the Saddle" and have really different music.

Really happy with it.

Good luck with yours.

Rules for having Alexa in your home:

1. Don't get into arguments with your spouse.

2. Don't have friends over for a night of drinking.

3. Don't yell at your children or your pets.

4. Don't say anything that might be deemed 'hate speech'.

5. Don't say anything derogatory about any political figure.

Outside of that, you are free.......

Spying ***** can stay right out of my home.