This really does not surprise me. I believe people finally realized that Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, etc. are always listening, 24/7/365. How else would they know to respond to the users calling out, "Hey Alexa!" Folks finally understand while that may be convenient, it is a HUGE privacy concern - not to mention, a little "creepy". Folks finally realize that everything within earshot of those voice recognition devices was being picked up and sent back to Amazon, Apple, and Google and is now, permanently stored in the cloud and on their servers - ready to be heard, used, sold, and distributed by those companies, any way they wish. EVERYTHING!
Which is why, when I had Win 10 on this laptop before dropping back to 8.1 Pro, I had Cortana turned off. Another reason was, I just found it weird and a little strange talking to a computer. That said, I have tried using Dragon and other speech to text software. Those are different than the above.
I thought that was the general idea, was it not? If they don't listen how are they able to respond? IMHO, the reason Alexa is going down the toilet is because it's not tied to a phone system.
I'm afraid you missed my point. That certainly is the convenience part and folks like that. But my point is, those devices hear EVERYTHING you say in the privacy of your own home - including your most private and intimate conversations between you and your significant other. If you tell your guest what the passphrase is to access your wireless network, Alexa and her friends hear that too. If you give your credit card number over the phone to Pizza Hut, Alexa hears that too. And worse, Alexa sends that information back to Amazon, just a Siri does to Apple and Google Assistant does to Google. Do you really trust those companies to totally delete every single copy of that information from all their servers around the globe? I sure don't. Even with the best intent and honesty, I do NOT trust their networks will never be hacked and compromised by bad guys. Nah! Do you mean like a cell phone service? Or the ability to connect to a home "landline" phone? Either way, I just don't see that being a popular demand. If a cell service, users would have to pay for another account - just as they would to add another cell phone to the service. And if you mean a landline - that would be as archaic (and slow) as adding a fax machine or dial-up modem.
It's a shame that employees have to suffer as a result of corporate mismanagement and shortsightedness. Shame on you Amazon!
Because that is how business works. This is supposedly why upper management and CEOs are well paid. They are responsible for the company. If they fail everyone involved pays the price. Employees, customers, shareholders.
It's because it is spyware to the extreme. If they put it on my phone I'll flush it. Not that there isn't other spyware on it. I'd have to deal with those as another topic.
@Bill_Bright: This is an interesting thread. I do not have nor want Alexa-type gadget, but want to stir the pot a bit if you don't mind. Perhaps while Alexa is waiting for the "Hey Alexa" call, any sound gathered during the wait are ignored and stay within the device, So gossip about a neighbor or credit card number should be safe and likely cleared out. A good router might confirm by its logs whether and when that information really goes out. Wireshark watches individual packets. There should be none going out. The only outbound communication with a server is after the "Hey Alexa" trigger visible in a router log or Wireshark. Might this not be a possible scenario?
No! Sorry but you are mistaken. Does Alexa record everything? It may not "record" and send everything back to the service, but it is constantly listening. And it does record and send back significantly more than just the user's conversation between the user and the device. When you say, "Hey Alexa", it starts recording and sending home that data. And it keeps recording until it is sure you are no longer talking to it. That could be several seconds or even minutes after you [think] you have ended your conversation with Alexa. This also means if someone else in the room is talking too, that information is being recorded. If you are comfortable with "should be" and "likely", then that's fine. But knowing that Amazon, Apple, and Google have all been hacked, multiple times, and knowing how these companies collect and use our personal information for their financial gains, and knowing that what you claim depends on everything working perfectly 100% of the time, I sure am not comfortable with "should be" and "likely".
@Bill_Bright: That clarifies it for me. Thank you for this, and many other, helpful answers you write here