In the 1950s, a movie executive predicted that interest in a new technology—the television—would dwindle after six months. In the 1970s, the chairman of a computer manufacturing company asserted that no one would actually want a computer in their home. And in the 1990s, one economist declared that the impact of the internet would be no greater than that of fax machines.
Emerging technologies often face skepticism, especially if it isn’t immediately clear how they work or what benefit they serve. The same goes for voice assistants like Alexa: Aspects of how they work are sometimes still misunderstood. Here are some of the top misconceptions debunked:
Myth 1: Alexa is recording everything you say, all the time.
Fact: By default, Echo devices are designed to record audio only after the device detects the chosen wake word (or if the action button is pushed).
Until an Echo device detects the chosen wake word— “Alexa,” “Amazon,” and “Echo”—Alexa does not record or store what any person in the room has said. This is made possible by built-in technology called “keyword spotting” that matches spoken audio to the wake word’s acoustic patterns. Echo devices are designed to listen for the sound waves of the wake word while ignoring everything else. Customers will always know when Alexa is listening to their request. For added peace of mind, the microphones can be manually turned off on all Echo devices. A red light will appear when the microphones have been disconnected and cannot detect audio.
Myth 2: There’s no way to know what Alexa is recording.
Fact: Users can review their voice history in the Alexa app or online, and there are several options to manage recordings.
When a user speaks to Alexa, their request is sent to Amazon’s secure cloud so that Alexa can respond to them. They can see exactly what Alexa heard and sent to Amazon’s cloud in the Alexa app by visiting Settings > Alexa Privacy > Review Voice History. Or they can look online at Alexa privacy settings. Customers can also visit the Alexa Privacy Hub for helpful information about how Alexa and Echo devices have been designed with utmost privacy in mind. The hub also offers an easy way to access the most important Alexa privacy settings.
Myth 3: The information shared with Alexa is not secure, and hackers can spy or gain access to data through devices.
Fact: Data encryption, rigorous security reviews, and regular automatic updates to Alexa-enabled devices work together to help ensure they operate as securely as possible.
Amazon has dedicated significant resources and people power to test and maintain the safety of its devices. This includes setting and validating the hardware requirements of all devices; performing application security reviews; automated security scanning to quickly identify vulnerabilities and roll-out updates; conducting rigorous security testing; and ongoing verification to ensure Amazon software updates are authentic. All data streamed between an Alexa-enabled device and the cloud is encrypted. Devices also regularly receive security updates. Customers don’t have to do anything to update their devices—it happens automatically when the devices are connected.
For added protection, users can enable a two-step verification (also known as 2SV) to further secure their accounts.
Myth 4: Anyone can use Drop In to eavesdrop on people’s homes.
Fact: By default, Drop In is turned off. When a user chooses to turn on this feature, they must first grant Drop In permissions to their contacts—which can be easily managed at any time.
Drop In is a two-way, intercom-like feature that makes it easier for family and friends to check in with one another with their Alexa-enabled devices, no matter where they are. In order to use Drop In, users have to manually enable the feature and explicitly grant permissions to specific contacts within their contact list through the Alexa app. They can assign names to their devices in different rooms of their house and have intercom-like conversations by saying something like, “Alexa, Drop In on kitchen.” They can also communicate with friends and family who have Alexa-enabled devices by saying something like, “Alexa, Drop In on grandma.”
Users can turn on Do Not Disturb for one (or all) of their Echo devices by saying, “Alexa, turn on Do Not Disturb.” The feature blocks notifications like calls, Drop Ins, and messages to that device.
