[massysett]

I agree with you on the people who buy these things, but I think a more interesting question is how they affect the people who do not buy them.

Facebook is similar. I don't care one whit about Facebook users who complain that the company is using their information and that they have no privacy. That's what you signed up for, duh. More interesting is that Facebook amasses a lot of information even about people who do not use the service.

Right now the Echo is only listening inside of homes, so logically you can figure there's not much risk of third-party harm here. But this gets more tricky if these things start listening in public spaces, or if they're on phones...suppose the pizza delivery guy gets a cell phone that listens all the time, and it hears something interesting while the pizza man is at your door.

[greenyoda]

"Right now the Echo is only listening inside of homes, so logically you can figure there's not much risk of third-party harm here."

If I visit a friend who has an Echo in their home, I'm having my conversation listened to without my consent.

[Godel_unicode]

I wonder if we're going to start seeing a new norm (similar to "I have you on speaker, Jane is here too") around devices with always-on voice recognition?

You head over to your friends house and they hit the mute button on their way to the door, or ask Alexa to say hi.

[massysett]

If you're in someone else's home you have to assume he has listening devices. He controls his house.