Q Talk

[Sooner]

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@circles wrote:

I own the "stupid thing", too...love it...

Shame on the OP for such an unkind thread....

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Well, feel sorry for the OP.  Obviously doesn't know what she is talking about.

We have one, love it and use it all the time for lists, information, and the weather check before getting dressed.  We never listen to music on it, but use it several times a day.  GREAT source of information!

[Sooner]

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@Havarti wrote:

I would not have a listening device like that in my house.  For what…to have it tell you what time it is, or how many teaspoons in a tablespoon or to play music when you could turn it on yourself?  It is sold as a device that is always listening (far field voice recognition hears you throughout your home) and responds when it hears its name.  Does it ever shut off after it responds?…Not if it is a listening device!  It can be recording your in-home conversations and storing them in the Cloud.  There is nothing very secret going on in our home but I am getting tired of all these things that want to invade privacy.  I won’t even join those grocery store discount cards because they keep track of every item you purchase.  They are not gathering that information for nothing…some day it will come to haunt.  There is enough of this that I cannot control, but I am most assuredly not going to willingly provide access to my privacy.  Everyone can make that choice for themselves and I choose not to go willingly down that path.  I am not saying you should not, just saying why it isn’t for me.

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Sorry but NOTHING I buy at the grocery store is going to come back to haunt me.  Pickles?  Toilet paper? Some steaks and milk?  Nah.  

[Moonchilde]

Oh good grief!

And everyone's biting.

[BalletBabe]

Okay you can delete what went to your phone or tablet app.  Go to the app and in History go to settings and you can delete from there.  Once you get into history,  it explains how to do it. 

[Havarti]

@BalletBabe

Think about what you just said…” It shuts off unless it hears her name”  . If it shuts off how can it hear you call its name?  Listen to the presentation.  They are telling you it is ALWAYS listening - they even tell you that things you say may be stored in the Cloud – they are giving full disclosure buried in the presentation and then they divert to some fun thing to make it seem like it is a good thing that it is listening all the time.   @Perkup just indicated: When I say Good Morning to Alexa, that goes on my phone.  If she answers, the words go on my phone. (an Iphone 6).  The shopping list goes on my phone, of course, but I can delete those things when I shop.Same with the To Do list, easy to delete. But then there are so many things - pages and pages - that I can't seem to delete. All the conversations, etc. It is so much "stuff" that should never be on the phone. What to do? 

She is saying that her conversations are being transcribed and posted to her phone…”so much stuff that should never be on the phone”!  I don't want conversations in my home transcribed and posted and I would want my guests to know they are free to talk in my home without fear of their words being transcribed and posted. 

 It is true, there may be many devices in homes today that also listen when on…Siri is always listening (I don’t have a phone with that feature), Smart TVs that allow you to call out the name of the movie or program are always listening (I don’t need a Smart TV…a normal TV with a remote is just fine for me).  It is all in what you are willing to trade.  I am not willing to trade my privacy…many are OK doing so.  It is a free country – if people are happy with the trade off that is their business.  I just expressed my opinion like others on this thread. We are all entitled to our own opinion. 

[Marp]

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@Havarti wrote:

I would not have a listening device like that in my house.  For what…to have it tell you what time it is, or how many teaspoons in a tablespoon or to play music when you could turn it on yourself?  It is sold as a device that is always listening (far field voice recognition hears you throughout your home) and responds when it hears its name.  Does it ever shut off after it responds?…Not if it is a listening device!  It can be recording your in-home conversations and storing them in the Cloud.  There is nothing very secret going on in our home but I am getting tired of all these things that want to invade privacy.  I won’t even join those grocery store discount cards because they keep track of every item you purchase.  They are not gathering that information for nothing…some day it will come to haunt.  There is enough of this that I cannot control, but I am most assuredly not going to willingly provide access to my privacy.  Everyone can make that choice for themselves and I choose not to go willingly down that path.  I am not saying you should not, just saying why it isn’t for me.

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@Havarti good points and certainly your perogative but if you are so sensitive about privacy I strongly recommend that you have any webcam and microphone REMOVED from your computer and other devices.  Not just disabled and the driver removed, the physical cam and microphone equipment.

[Havarti]

@Marp

Thanks for thinking of me. The computer concerns have already been resolved.

[Havarti]

@Sooner

It is very possible that tracking food purchases could someday impact health insurance.  Not the toilet paper, or the window cleaner, but down the road someone may sit in judgment of a person’s sugar purchases, or sodium, or alcohol, or tobacco .  With a person’s history known and tracked, they may decide that you have contributed to your possible health risks and therefore you will have to pay a much higher insurance premium for your past decisions/lifestyle.  They are not tracking your purchases linked directly to your name – at great expense – for no reason.  If they wanted to know what products are selling in a given area for marketing purposes or purchasing decisions, you would not have to sign-up and attach your name to that data - they could get that data from the register alone.  They are tracking very specifically what YOU are buying – they must be confident there will be a market for that information in the future.  Time will tell. For now, let's just agree to disagree. 

[BalletBabe]

@Perkup@Havarti  Okay just found easy way.  Sign in to amazon then go to your account.  put your mouse over your account and you will get drop down menu.  Go down to digital content and click on manage your account and devices.  click on your devices.  You will see your echo there. Look under it.  It says manage voice recordings.  click on that. you will see a warning that alexa might work as well because it learns your voice.  I deleted all mine and it had no effect on it.     Good luck!

If you don't put the alexa app on your phone it won't go to your phone.  You need the app on something in order for it to work.  

[BalletBabe]

I hope your watching Q right now because they just said what I just said.  I have no other way to explain it to you.  If your that afraid of it don't get one.  Ilove mine and my tap and am going to love my second one in the mail.  Your choice!