Amazon launches Alexa for Windows 10 PCs

[Saracen]

The car insurance example definitely is true. I happened to be in an area where the postcode, type of vehicle and something else correlated to imply a high risk. None of them on their own were particularly unusual but I was told it was people with these three combined traits have had more than the baseline number of fault accidents and so my insurance would be higher. This was quite a few years ago and I expect insurance companies are the kind of people buying a lot of Farcebook and Twa..... Twitter data.

Indeed, This sort of thing has been happening for several decades, but not on either the scale or with the degree of sophistication facilitated by mass accumulation of ever more granular levels of details, largely due to social media and cellphones, and more recently, with the potential from Alexa-type tech.

[philehidiot]

There's a court case in the US which has been ongoing for a while. It's a murder case and there was an Amazon Echo in the house and the police believe it may have recorded the murder and sent it to Amazon. Amazon has been refusing to release the recordings which by the sounds of it they have but it would reveal the extent of what they record and send off. The US court has recently ordered them to release it and it should be heard in open court. Now this will be interesting.

As for the above cartoon - someone tried that with me. Only to find I disabled the ability to purchase anything through them as soon as I got them. Sensible precaution and I don't like to buy anything without looking at it properly... asking it to buy me popcorn could end up with me buying any brand, type, quantity, etc at any price. I do not trust that at all.

[Ttaskmaster]

When I visit friends houses I ask them to turn off their always listening devices if they own. If my voice really can be used as a password and thus is unique I don't really care for big tech using it to track me.

Why can't you just behave like any normal human being would - Speak in movie quotes and Arnold Scwarzenegger impersonations?

[Saracen]

yes exactly this kind of thing happens for several decades but the difference is the way but the goal remains the same unfortunately
please what do you say about Alexa-type tech. ?

I say that, personally, I won't touch it with a 50-foot bargepole, but .... it's a personal decision. Each to his own.

I do object to ANY data mining and analysis, where I am the subject unless whoever is doing it has my genuine, active, informed consent .... which they will not get.

But if anyone does consent, or doesn't care but likes Alexa/Cortsna type benefits, well that's their right too.

It's the deceit and subterfuge in such data gathering I object to, and I dismiss Alexa, etc, because I do not trust what is going on behond the scenes. Maybe it's nothing, but I just don't trust that,

[peterb]

Vision of Alexa and Cortana having a handbag fight with each other an a Windows PC....

[Output]

Vision of Alexa and Cortana having a handbag fight with each other an a Windows PC....

Alexa: "You shut up."
Cortana: "No, YOU shut up."
Alexa: "No, you shut up!"
Cortana: "No, you shut up!"
User: "Why don't you BOTH shut up?!"