Amazon Is Listening Through Your Smart Speaker – Here’s How to Get Them To Stop
Amazon can listen to your conversations through smart speakers. They do it for research but you can opt out. Here's how they suggest you do it.
If you have a smart speaker, you know how helpful they can be. They can essentially act as a personal assistant. They can look things up on the internet for you, they can turn lights on and off, they can even play your favorite radio stations.
But...did you know they can also listen to your conversations?
According to Fox News, they can listen around the clock:
Teams stationed around the world listen to and transcribe recordings, then send them back into the Echo’s software to erase the gaps in Alexa’s ability to understand speech.
The good news is that while it's creepy, the employees are required to sign non-disclosure agreements about what they hear. They even have procedures in case they hear a crime happen while they're listening.
So how do you turn this feature off? According to CNBC, you can take these steps:
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap the menu button on the top left of the screen.
- Select "Alexa Account."
- Choose "Alexa Privacy."
- Select "Manage how your data improves Alexa."
- Turn off the button next to "Help Develop New Features."
- Turn off the button next to your name under “Use Messages to Improve Transcriptions.”