[chunkyslink]

Nice try NSA!

Seriously though, it worries me that there are more and more 'listening devices' in my home.

We've seen what has happened recently with the NSA listening to calls. What is to stop the authorities getting a back door into all these devices and just recording everything?

[rsync]

I really want nothing to do with 20 different cloud connected and voice-aware devices in my home.

I'm not going to buy a Xbox One unless I can effectively mute the mic (not just the UI telling me I did) and I'm not having a nest thermometer tied to some weird social login/profile that I have to create in order to use it.

I'm certainly not going to stick some amazon listening device in my kitchen.

[bayesianhorse]

If this device is designed half-way smart it will have a microphone that is optimized for very close voices and a power management designed for short bursts of activity.

Which means it will be next to useless for the sort of carpet-surveillance the NSA has been accused off.