Amazon's Newest Product Literally Puts a Camera and Mic in Your Bedroom
It’s every morally bankrupt advertiser’s dream to have a microphone and camera in every American household.
With the advent of Amazon’s Alexa and other companies’ electronic assistants, people willingly bought and placed microphones in their home. These devices, when plugged in and hooked to the internet, are always on, and always listening for a command. Although the device is in many houses, a “dead” zone still remains in many people’s bedrooms.
Enter Amazon’s Echo Spot.
The marketing is simple enough: Amazon promises a digital replacement for your alarm clock. Because of its internet connection, you can use apps, play music, ask questions, and even video chat with the built-in camera.
As The Daily Mail reports, this is the most user-friendly update to Amazon’s smart speaker line. It is also the only one featuring a screen.
The problems start to pile on, however, with a closer look at the device.
The devices themselves are incredibly vulnerable. Forbes reported a hack that allowed a third party to secretly listen in to every single conversation around the Amazon Alexa while still allowing for normal functions.
Commands outside the range audible to human ear are also used to manipulate the devices without the owner knowing.
Beyond the obvious security flaws, there is an inherent problem with the Amazon Spot. In the bedroom, it serves as an always-on microphone with a camera pointed right at you while you sleep.
Out of context, it sounds like a scene out of George Orwell’s 1984.”
Conspiracy theorists have claimed these devices are connected to the government, which is keeping a recording of every conversation had in citizen’s homes. While there’s no proof of this, some creepy videos do exist of the Amazon Alexa acting strangely.
Only time will tell the impact these devices have on the American people.
Would you put one of these on your nightstand? Let us know in the comments!
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