The machines taking over or something more sinister ?

[poormansporsche]

We have 4 Alexa's in our house (Alexi ??) On Boxing Day night at 3am in the morning they all simultaneously decided to blast out at full volume the fairytale of New York ? We all got up and shouted at them to shut up but they wouldn't turn off so had to unplug all 4 ??? By this time the dogs were barking, the kids were awake and moaning and we were all thoughly fed up.

So was it likely to be a technical issue or could our wi fi have been hacked by some pranksters or something ?? There was a strange car parked outside my house which is unusual but it was Christmas so who knows ????

Thoughts ???

 

[Peter103]

I don't have one, I read recently that Google are able to tune in to Alexa and listen, record, conversations in people's homes, be careful what you say, someone recommended that you don't have them in the bathroom or the bedroom, Be aware, think ahead.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I don't have one, I read recently that Google are able to tune in to Alexa and listen, record, conversations in people's homes, be careful what you say, someone recommended that you don't have them in the bathroom or the bedroom, Be aware, think ahead.

What on earth could Google want with my bedroom and bathroom noises?

 

[Petrol Pete]

^^^^ Nothing ...yet. But who knows how useful it might be to someone in years to come ? No one knows but some people think these companies are collecting everything that they legally can, while they can.

Me ? I don't really give a $hit either way..(see what I did there ? )

 

[ToeKnee]

I find it hard to believe that Google can tap into and hear conversations through Alexa! I'm certain Amazon can and I'm certain that Google can tap into their own "personal assistant" Google home/mini and hear stuff, I wouldn't have thought they'd give each other access. I've been wrong before though.....

 

[whitenemesis]

We have Alexa, nothing happened Boxing Day night. Maybe someone playing a prank by setting an alarm?

 

[Peter103]

Google? Amazon? Who knows? Who cares? They're all the same to me junk!

 

[Germgh0st]

I have three Echo devices and this didn't happen to me.

As for people listening in, let them. I have nothing to hide and if they want to listen to my mundane day to day life and my (albeit not so mundane ) noises in the bedroom let them fill their boots!

Have you looked through the history on the Alexa app to see if somebody set an alarm or something?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

When I search for available devices in Spotify I see 'kitchen speaker' now I don't have any kitchen speaker.

I've been waiting for the young couple behind to piss me off so I can play Sex Pistols Bodies on full volume through the speaker, it hasn't happened yet.

 

[m80]

Kirsty, gone but not forgotten.
Is she trying to tell you something?

 

[poormansporsche]

Definitely not a alarm as we use the alarm every day (the best and most useful feature of Alexa !) and it was more the not being able to turn off that was more of a issue than the actual turning on by itself ?

 

[Dryce]

Do you use spotify?

 

[190]

On the subject of data collection I think the advent of the GDPR regs has been a good thing if only because every web site you visit now has to ask for your compliance. While it's a pain every time this happens it has been a real eye opener in terms of the shear number of others parties they were selling your data to. It's interesting to see who truly adheres to GDPR by defaulting to the minimum essential data collection and who try's to trick you into accepting everything. I now click on "reject all" except for essential as a matter of principle. Where that's not possible and the list of others is so long you couldn't possibly take the time to go through and untick all of them I just leave the web site and don't return as it's a deliberate tactic to circumvent GDPR.

 

[BTB 500]

We have a couple of Echo Dots ... I've had the one in my workshop (not linked to any services) occasionally start playing random stuff when the room is empty. I checked the log and saw 'play grime' ... no idea where that came from (definitely not me!).

We have an unopened Google Home Mini somewhere.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

We have HomePods. The one in our daughters room started playing War Of The Worlds a few days ago. I have the album on my phone but I was out of the house. Daughter stopped it by voice command. Freaked her out a bit. Not happened before nor since.

 

[Ted]

Possibly something misheard and interpreted as a command.
I was watching a news article a while ago about Syria and Siri piped up.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I forgot about this.

I run Spotify on my phone and connect to my amp via the Echo Dot, out walking the dog one Sunday while the Mrs was prepping lunch I realised that I could play music at home by selecting available devices, really loud.

The Mrs hates prog rock.

 

[bigcarpchaser]

We have a couple of Alexa things, brilliant gadgets. Now I’ve remembered I owe my father in law an April fools prank I’m going to set his up to start talking gibberish at some ungodly hour every day for a week. Nnnaaaahhaaarrr.
I do love a spot of revenge


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Big Janner]

Yes
There were a few people (men & women) advising not to have the Alexa lady in your bedroom or bathroom
Why?
It's to do with the potential (the important word) for information gathering and privacy breaching.
These devices listen, 24/7
At the moment, it is considered (the important word) likely that Amazon do little with the bit of information gleened, but, the future is a different matter.
The worry is that these huge corporations don't give a sh1t about GDPR

Amazon have a plan; Inside Amazon’s plan for Alexa to run your entire life

 

[Deleted member 113659]

We have indeed noticed that advertising emails we all receive have a link the conversations we’ve had.

A recent example being myself and Mrs chatting about our wills and funeral wishes. the very next day I got an email from a funeral Plan company. Coincidence? Who knows.