Your smart speaker records you up to 19 times per day

I am sure you have heard your smart speaker, smart display, phone, PC or Mac’s voice assistant chime once of twice before. In fact it happens a lot more than that.

A new study from Northeastern University reveals, just how much it happens, with alarming regularity. The study estimates that false activations of smart speakers occur between 1.5 & 19 times a day, WOW!

The average activation time is 43 seconds, which means that those 43 seconds of your conversations might be recorded and stored on Google’s, Amazon’s, Apple’s, Facebook’s and Microsoft’s Servers.

The researchers came to the conclusions by analyzing TV shows and seeing which TV shows set Alexa and others into random activation mode. They looked at five specific smart speakers: Apple HomePod first generation, Google Home Mini first generation,Harman Kardon Invoke, a Amazon Echo Dot (2nd Gen) speakers, and a couple of Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen) generation speakers.

Who was the worst offender?

Siri, of course. Her private nature also makes her less intelligent, so naturally she gets accidentally set off.

According to the report, Siri confuses her own name with “Faith’s funeral.” Alexa gets confused by “congresswoman.” Google’s Home Mini gets confused by “I don’t like the cold.” Master Chief’s bestie, Cortana gets confused by “Colorado”, which is the only one that sounds similar in the bunch.

How do you prevent this from happening and regain your privacy?

This week Robert Frederick, a former manager at Amazon Web Services, told the BBC that “If I want privacy, I know how to get it. I simply turn my Echo device off.”

By Platform De.Central | Source: Northeasten University