[shawn-butler]

They raise the issue of having Alexa devices in semi-private places like hotel rooms[0].

I think people have an expectation of privacy in a hotel room. And I assume major hotels have security measures in place to catch consumer-level eavesdropping devices.

Rooting an Alexa device in this manner seems like something that could easily be done by a prankster requiring no specialized equipment.

Has anyone stayed in Wynn hotel in Vegas? Are the alexa devices just out in the open or built into the room somehow that might easily show tampering? Or, maybe they have only the latest version with the debug pads disabled?

[0]: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wynn-las-vegas-anno...

[joshuas]

Hacking an Alexa is probably one of the more difficult ways to bug a hotel room.

[kelnos]

More difficult, sure, but also probably less likely to be detected over the long term.

[thanatropism]

That's entirely orthogonal to smart devices. Tape recorders have been used for... a long time.