[sodality2]

> Amazon claims that Alexa isn't always listening too and/but/yet also that it'll wake up immediately when you say the right wake word

Strictly Alexa, the device, is always listening in order to trigger on the wake word. It's just that audio doesn't get sent to Amazon until it hears a wake word (then it just streams the audio to Amazon to process it. locally it's only smart enough to listen for a wake word). This is verifiable from sniffing network traffic, it's not sending enough to be a live audio stream at all times unless the wake word is said.

[politician]

You'd agree that this creates a hypertechnical situations where slight changes in the hardware or software create undetectable situations for non-technical consumers. For example, we do not know for certain that Alexa devices never stream audio when they have not yet processed the wake word. A device that you test it on may have a different policy from a device sold a year from now, yet the Internet (archives) will say that, no, it doesn't listen.

Google hid a microphone in its Nest Protect product. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/security/a264489...

[SamPatt]

Snowden called this "turnkey tyranny." The idea that the technology for dystopia already exists and is widely distributed, but the key simply hasn't been turned yet.

All it would take for Amazon (or whichever government twists their arm) to listen to millions of households surreptitiously is a quiet software update.

[sodality2]

That's very true, yeah. Can't speak for every Alexa, every version, the future, etc.

[npteljes]

Grammarly really is a keylogger though. In a "plain text being sent to a remote server" kind of way.