Amazon has become the largest manufacturer when it comes to smart speakers. Their Amazon Echo are very popular in the United States, and the number of models and prices available along with the good features that Alexa offers, his integrated virtual assistant has taken him on his own merits to the first position of this emerging market.
However, it seems that this first position and the fact that Alexa is ahead of its rivals (far ahead in the case of Siri) has a price: our privacy. Can you imagine that your Amazon Echo can record your conversation and send it to a contact on your agenda without you noticing it? Well that's what happened in the United States.
The news has been made public on Kira TV, an American television, and tells how a family in Oregon has suffered this unfortunate failure that, luckily, has had no consequence beyond concerns about your privacy, but that could have been much more compromising.
According to the news story, the family received a call from an employee of the father's company telling them to immediately disconnect their Amazon Echos because they had been hacked. He ensured this because he had received a message with a complete conversation from the family. What had happened? It seems that Alexa would have "woken up" during the conversation, that she would have recorded and sent this employee. A series of coincidences and specific words at precise moments would have caused the Amazon Echo to record that conversation and send it to this receiver. According to the news, Amazon has confirmed the facts and has not yet found an explanation for what has happened.
The utmost respect for our privacy is absolutely essential when it comes to connected speakers that are always listening. On more than one occasion Apple has ensured that its slowness in developing Siri is precisely because they want to guarantee our privacy to the maximum, while what other companies want is to win the virtual assistants race at any price. It is not the first time that Alexa is the protagonist of strange news as we told you a few months ago when many users complained about a mysterious and unpleasant laugh their Echo speakers were broadcasting for no apparent reason and regardless of the early morning hours.
