agent alexa
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">medium</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://onezero.medium.com/amazon-is-watching</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">amazon is watching </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="ds-link ds-link--stylePointer u-width100pct" href="https://onezero.medium.com/amazon-is-watching-d51b20f1668a?source=extreme_main_feed---------4-----------------------" data-action-source="extreme_main_feed---------4-----------------------" data-post-id="d51b20f1668a" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" open="Open" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; width: 100%;" /></font><div class="u-flex u-minWidth0 u-justifyContentSpaceBetween u-marginTop12" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" open="Open" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" display="display" flex="flex" important="important" webkit-box-pack="webkit-box-pack" justify="justify" justify-content="justify-content" space-between="space-between" margin-top="margin-top" min-width="min-width"><div class="u-flexCenter u-minWidth0 u-flex1" style="-webkit-box-flex: 1; flex: 1 1 auto; display: flex !important; -webkit-box-align: center !important; align-items: center !important; min-width: 0px !important;"><div class="u-flexTop u-noWrapWithEllipsis u-flex1" style="-webkit-box-flex: 1; flex: 1 1 auto; display: flex !important; -webkit-box-align: start !important; align-items: flex-start !important; white-space: nowrap !important; text-overflow: ellipsis !important; overflow: hidden !important;"><div class="u-noWrapWithEllipsis u-flex1" style="-webkit-box-flex: 1; flex: 1 1 auto; text-overflow: ellipsis !important; overflow: hidden !important;"><div class="ui-captionStrong u-noWrapWithEllipsis" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans="Sans" unicode="Unicode" geneva="Geneva" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" important="important" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" font-size="font-size" line-height="line-height" style="transform: translateY(1.8px); text-overflow: ellipsis !important; overflow: hidden !important; fill: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84) !important; --x-height-multiplier:0.342 !important; --baseline-multiplier:0.22 !important;"><div class="postMetaInline postMetaInline-authorLockup u-padding0 u-flexShrink1 u-noWrapWithEllipsis" style="flex-shrink: 1; padding-left: 10px; text-rendering: auto; padding-top: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; text-overflow: ellipsis !important; overflow: hidden !important; letter-spacing: inherit !important; font-weight: inherit !important; font-style: inherit !important; fill: inherit !important; line-height: inherit !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="ds-link ds-link--styleSubtle postMetaInline postMetaInline--author" href="https://onezero.medium.com/@WillOremus" data-action="show-user-card" data-action-value="b80d930d46e9" data-action-type="hover" data-user-id="b80d930d46e9" data-collection-slug="one-zero" dir="auto" style="text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; letter-spacing: inherit !important; font-weight: inherit !important; font-style: inherit !important; fill: inherit !important; line-height: inherit !important; display: inline !important;">Will Oremus</a> in <a class="ds-link ds-link--styleSubtle" href="https://onezero.medium.com/" data-action="show-collection-card" data-action-value="one-zero" data-action-type="hover" data-collection-slug="one-zero" style="text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; display: inline !important;">OneZero</a></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/alexa-stop-spying-on-my-kids-ftc-complaint-charges-amazons-echo-dot-violates-privacy-law/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/alexa-stop-spying-on-my-kids-ftc-complaint-charges-amazons-echo-dot-violates-privacy-law/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx dox</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alexa, stop spying on my kids’:<b> FTC complaint charges Amazon’s Echo Dot violates privacy law</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">written by Jessica Corbett / Common Dreams<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>May 10, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Amazon markets Echo Dot Kids as a device to educate and entertain kids, but the real purpose is to amass a treasure trove of sensitive data that it refuses to relinquish even when directed to by parents."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A coalition of consumer and public health groups demanded Thursday that federal regulators investigate and sanction Amazon for its Echo Dot Kids Edition, arguing that the device illegally collects and retains children’s personal data.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The brightly colored, always-on listening device “will play music, answer questions, read stories, tell jokes, and more—all with younger ears in mind,” according to Amazon. “The included one year of FreeTime Unlimited gives your kids access to thousands of hours of fun and educational content, including ad-free radio stations and playlists, Audible books, and a growing list of premium kids skills.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Amazon maintained in statements to reporters on Thursday that Echo Dot Kids Edition and FreeTime comply with federal privacy rules—but 19 groups, led by Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), disagree.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a complaint submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Thursday, the coalition charged that the device violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), based on the findings of an investigation conducted by CCFC and the Institute for Public Representation (IPR) at Georgetown Law.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We spent months analyzing the Echo Dot Kids and the device’s myriad privacy policies and we still don’t have a clear picture of what data is collected by Amazon and who has access to it,” Angela Campbell, a CCFC board member and director of IPR’s Communications and Technology Clinic, said in a statement.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If privacy experts can’t make heads or tails of Amazon’s privacy policy labyrinth,” Campbell asked, “how can a parent meaningfully consent to the collection of their children’s data?”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though questions remain about the device and data collection, what researchers found alarmed them. Alongside the complaint to federal regulators, the coalition launched a website that outlines specific ways in which experts say the device raises privacy concerns and breaks the law:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amazon’s process for reviewing personal information places undue burden on parents. It does not allow parents to search through information collected, instead requiring them to read or listen to every voice recording of their child’s interaction with the device.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amazon’s parental consent mechanism does not provide assurance that the person giving consent is the parent of the child. Among other issues, it can be bypassed by a kid with a disposable debit gift card.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amazon keeps children’s personal information longer than reasonably necessary. It only deletes information if a parent explicitly requests deletion by contacting customer service, otherwise it is retained forever.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amazon fails to clearly explain how to delete information collected about children through Echo Dot Kids Edition.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amazon’s website and literature directs parents trying to delete information collected about their child to the voice recording deletion page and fails to disclose that deleting voice recordings does not delete the underlying information. This is a material omission likely to mislead reasonable parents.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amazon does not give notice or obtain parental consent before recording the voices of children that do not live in the home (visiting friends, family, etc.) with the owner of the device.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amazon’s direct notice does not satisfy COPPA’s requirements as it is missing key pieces of information. Its online notice is also unsatisfactory as it includes so much confusing and unrelated information that a parent would be unable to decipher what applied to Echo Dot Kids Edition.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amazon does not disclose which kid skills (developed by 3rd parties) collect child personal information or what they collect. It tells parents to read the privacy policy of each kid skill (impermissible under COPPA). 84.6% of kid skills do not provide privacy policies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The groups also released a video that shows a test of the device’s “remember” feature. As IPR put it, “Amazon forgot to teach Alexa how to ‘forget.'”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Amazon markets Echo Dot Kids as a device to educate and entertain kids, but the real purpose is to amass a treasure trove of sensitive data that it refuses to relinquish even when directed to by parents,” said CCFC executive director Josh Golin. “The FTC must hold Amazon accountable for blatantly violating children’s privacy law and putting kids at risk.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) submitted a letter to FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson Thursday, also calling for a federal investigation of the Amazon device.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ed Markey</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@SenMarkey</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> The Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition captures voice recordings and vast amounts of personal information on the children who speak to it, potentially violating federal law. @SenBlumenthal, @SenatorDurbin, @SenHawleyPress, and I are calling for the FTC to investigate.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">33</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">11:30 AM - May 9, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">24 people are talking about this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We urge the commission to take all necessary steps to ensure their privacy as ‘Internet of Things’ devices targeting young consumers come to market,” the lawmakers wrote, “including promptly initiating an investigation in the Amazon Echo Dot Edition’s compliance with COPPA.”</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/03/surveillance-capitalism-is-the-newest-threat-to-democracy/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/03/surveillance-capitalism-is-the-newest-threat-to-democracy/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The rule of Big Brother has begun, and we are all enabling this new authoritative regime, critics charge.</b></font></p><div class="p1_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We are empowering “surveillance capitalists” by revealing our every thought, word, and deed through our networked devices — our cars, cell phones, laptops, notepads, sensors, and<b> voice-activated speakers (which do as much listening as speaking)</b> such as Google’s Alexa and Amazon’s Echo.</font></p><div class="p2_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/2019/03/17/surveillance-capitalism-threat-to-democracy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">This story originally appeared at WhoWhatWhy.org</a>]</font></span></p><div class="p3_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So say certain politicians including Canadian Member of Parliament<a href="https://www.charlieangus.ndp.ca/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> Charlie Angus</a> and academics such as Harvard Business School professor<a href="https://shoshanazuboff.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> Shoshana Zuboff</a>. They foresee a new type of business model,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> referred to as surveillance capitalism</a>. They claim it is currently practiced by tech giants Amazon, Google, and Facebook, and that it is threatening the social compact that underlies democratic capitalism.</font></p><div class="p4_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But their concerns go far beyond data privacy and identity theft.</font></p><div class="p5_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mass Manipulation</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In this brave new world, where the<a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/30121/internet-of-everything-ioe" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> Internet of Everything</a> enables the capture of vast amounts of behavioral data, a new breed of competitors has realized that the intelligence they can capture on their customers may be more valuable than the products and services they offer.</font></p><div class="p6_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When combined with other sources of information, these troves of data can be manipulated by AI and machine learning platforms, creating descriptions of who we are, and predictions of what we will buy, what we will do, and whom we will vote for.</font></p><div class="p7_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, using psychological profiling to predict and manipulate behaviors is not new — think of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Cambridge Analytica</a> and the spread of fake news.</font></p><div class="p8_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What alarms Angus, Zuboff, and others is the growing scale and sophistication of this type of control. The most successful players are a small number of corporate giants, such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook.</font></p><div class="p9_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These “surveillance capitalists” run massive amounts of behavioral data through complex mathematical models. Using multiple sources of data on each individual, algorithms create detailed personality profiles that can reliably predict specific responses, such as voting patterns, based on given stimuli, such as targeted ads and fake news items.</font></p><div class="p10_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The success of these enormously profitable companies is inspiring other firms to adopt this new business model.</font></p><div class="p11_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Social and Economic Order</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In her new book, <i style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power,</i> Zuboff defines surveillance capitalism as “a new economic order that claims human experience as a free source of raw material” to be mined and exploited to expand power and control.</font></p><div class="p12_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Angus frames it: “<a href="https://www.charlieangus.ndp.ca/stop-big-data-lobbying" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The problem is the unprecedented economic control of every form of social discourse and communication</a>.”</font></p><div class="p13_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the classic<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> “Invisible Hand”</a> theory of free-market capitalism, individuals’ pursuit of their own self-interest ends up producing tangible benefits for the society as a whole. In surveillance capitalism, cold, calculated manipulation replaces the aggregated choices of a large number of freely acting individuals.</font></p><div class="p14_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a result, Zuboff argues, this new, aberrant form of capitalism portends a society in which capitalism no longer nurtures “inclusive economic or political institutions.”</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>