Amazon announced it is removing the option to opt out of sending voice recordings for users of the Echo Dot, the Echo Show 10, and the Echo Show 15. This feature was reportedly only used by 0.03% of users, while all other consumers who utilize these devices have been sending their recordings to Amazon. The company is enhancing Alexa’s features by incorporating generative artificial intelligence features. This requires Amazon to process all recordings in the cloud.

In 2023, Amazon was ordered to pay $25 million as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. Amazon was required to change its practices as part of the settlement. The press release at the time stated that Amazon is required to “overhaul its deletion practices and implement stringent privacy safeguards to settle charges the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule) and deceived parents and users of the Alexa voice assistant service about its data deletion practices.”

In February 2022, almost 30% of households with Wi-Fi also had an Amazon Fire TV device, which interacts with Amazon Alexa. Over 20% of households owned an Echo smart speaker, Fire tablet, or both.
Bi-annual transparency reports released by Amazon show that the company received 429 requests from law enforcement for customer content, while it received 53,000 total requests. The report states, “Non-content information mainly includes basic subscriber information (such as name, address, email address, billing information, and date of account creation), certain retail purchase history, and AWS service usage information.”

Kevin Cleary, University of Buffalo Professor and information security expert, said, “Even all of our cell phones are recording a lot of what we’re saying and digitizing that. So, there are major privacy concerns there. They’re written by a combination of legal teams and technical teams that are trying to indemnify any kind of risk or future use of that data. So is somebody a digital privacy advocate? Yes. This is a huge concern to me.”

Cleary said consumers have lost the ability to decide how their data is collected and used. He said the consent and ability to determine how your data is used is a “basic, fundamental privacy right.”

In 2009, Eric Schmidt was the CEO of Google and said “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” Similar sentiments were shared after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. government was collecting data on private citizens and foreigners without cause.

Snowden is still living in Russia as he avoids coming back to his home country to face trial. The mass collection of private citizen data has been considered by many to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Still, there is no violation by the tech companies for collecting this data because users opt into user agreements, sometimes without realizing what they are agreeing to.

Cleary said, “We want to use what we want to use. In that moment, the privacy implications kind of become secondary. I think a lot of us kind of fall into that, that bubble of, look, I want to use this now the privacy concerns aren’t first and foremost in the front of my mind, or it’s not something that’s necessarily tangible to me right now, I want to use that Alexa. I want to use that echo. I want to be able to talk to it from across the room and have whatever music play that I want, or make some kind of an order that convenience is is worth it enough to us that we’re willing to, in that moment, forego any of those policy concerns.”

Cleary also explained that there is always a risk of a data breach and asked what happens when somebody gets ahold of this private data without authorization. Cleary added, “It shouldn’t have to be something that we opt into. It should have to be something that we opt out of. And unfortunately, that’s not the law.”

Last week, Senator Rand Paul, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi regarding concerns about the “integrity of U.S. user data in the context of the Cloud Act and UK statutes.” Last month, Joe Lancaster reported that The United Kingdom’s Home Office demanded that Apple provide law enforcement access to users’ private data. The U.K. government asked for all user data, not just U.K. users.

The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act was passed in 2018, which requires tech companies like Apple and Amazon to provide private consumer data to the government when requested.

Senator Paul posted a tweet against the bill before it passed in 2018. He quoted Neema Singh Guliani, ACLU legislative counsel, who wrote an op-ed for The Hill. It states, “Congress should reject the CLOUD Act because it fails to protect human rights or Americans’ privacy…gives up their constitutional role, and gives far too much power to the attorney general, the secretary of state, the president and foreign governments.”

The U.K. can request private user data from tech companies and prohibit the company from disclosing the existence of the order. This is described within the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Act.

On March 13, five U.S. Senators signed a letter to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, an independent public body, to ask the court to “remove the cloak of secrecy related to notices given to American technology companies by the United Kingdom.”

The letter states that Apple and Google have informed Senator Ron Wyden that they would be barred from disclosing the existence of an order from the U.K. government if they received a technical capabilities notice.

Apple is challenging the order in court but has already moved to weaken security protocols to comply with the orders of the U.K. government. The company issued a statement stating new users in the U.K. would not have access to “Advanced Data Protection,” and users without this currently enabled will no longer be able to do so.

In his article for Reason, Lancaster stated that Apple is correct in challenging this in court. He wrote, “It would be impossible to design a vulnerability to encryption that can only be exploited by police, or with a court order, or any other exception you can imagine. By definition, any encryption ‘back door’ open to law enforcement could also be exploited by hackers.”

Steven Middendorp

Steven Middendorp is an investigative journalist, musician, and teacher. He has been a freelance writer and journalist for over 20 years. More recently, he has focused on issues dealing with corruption and negligence in the judicial system. He is a homesteading hobby farmer who encourages people to grow their own food, eat locally, and care for the land that provides sustenance to the community.

Other Headlines

Coronavirus

ICAN Releases Recordings of FDA’s Peter Marks; Vaccine Official Dismissed Vaccine Injuries

The Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) and REACT 19 held a joint press conference today to reveal a trove of secret recordings and FOIA documents of Peter Marks, the former Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. The press conference included ICAN Founder Del Bigtree, Attorney Aaron Siri, and REACT 19’s Brianne Dressen.Continue reading ICAN Releases Recordings of FDA’s Peter Marks; Vaccine Official Dismissed Vaccine Injuries

More news about Coronavirus

Health & Nutrition

New Fluoride Study Ignores Neurotoxicity and Sugar Intake in Cost Analysis

A new fluoride study has been criticized for being a tool of the industry to promote continued water fluoridation following the banning of the practice in Utah and Florida. The authors conducted a simulation model and cost-effectiveness analysis with data from 8484 children with a mean age of 9.6 years. The authors concluded eliminating fluorideContinue reading New Fluoride Study Ignores Neurotoxicity and Sugar Intake in Cost Analysis

More news about Health & Nutrition

Vaccines

HHS Terminates Moderna Contract For Bird Flu Vaccine; Calls mRNA Technology “Under-Tested”

HHS has terminated a $766 million contract with Moderna to develop an mRNA bird flu vaccine. HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said the decision is about “safety, integrity, and trust.” He added that “mRNA technology remains under-tested, and we are not going to spend taxpayer dollars repeating the mistakes of the last administration, which concealed legitimateContinue reading HHS Terminates Moderna Contract For Bird Flu Vaccine; Calls mRNA Technology “Under-Tested”

More news about Vaccines

Science & Tech

Humanoid Robots Malfunction and Attack; Sparks Debate Over AI Safety and Liability

A viral video released from an undisclosed Chinese factory shows a humanoid robot malfunctioning and attacking the factory workers. The Unitree H1, a product of the Chinese company Unitree Robotics, can be seen flailing its arms as workers move away to protect themselves. The robot was hung on a crane, and the workers were notContinue reading Humanoid Robots Malfunction and Attack; Sparks Debate Over AI Safety and Liability

More news about Science & Tech

Environment

CDC Advised Health Care Providers Not to Test East Palestine Residents for Chemical Illnesses, Lawsuit Alleges

Newsnation reported this week that the CDC advised local health care providers in East Palestine, OH, not to test local residents for chemical illnesses after the town was exposed to a toxic plume from a “controlled burn” after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in 2023. A lawsuit has been filed against Norfolk Southern and moreContinue reading CDC Advised Health Care Providers Not to Test East Palestine Residents for Chemical Illnesses, Lawsuit Alleges

More news about Environment

Policy

HHS and CMS Urge Changes to Gender-Affirming Care for Minors; Clinics Face Potential Loss of Federal Funding

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote a letter addressed to healthcare providers saying he expects them to update their “treatment protocols and training to ensure that care for children with gender dysphoria is evidence-based.” The letter was also addressed to healthcare risk managers and state medical boards. The letter refers to the report publishedContinue reading HHS and CMS Urge Changes to Gender-Affirming Care for Minors; Clinics Face Potential Loss of Federal Funding

More news about Policy