Amazon may allow software developers to read your private Alexa transcripts

Could you imagine living in a country that made technological advancements that weren’t at the expense of your individual right to privacy? What would it be like if the Fourth Amendment was actually respected, and each new idea for an invention started off with the simple question, “Is this going to infringe on the privacy rights of our customers?” If this type of a society sounds too good to be true, that’s because sadly, it is. From cellphones to television sets, to the cars that we drive, the American people are routinely being spied upon and listened to, and unless we stop purchasing these specific items altogether, there’s really not much we can do about it.

According to The Information, and as reported by Breitbart News, owners of the Amazon Alexa devices may soon be having some or even all of their conversations transcribed and reviewed by third-party developers, a move that is already sending up a red flag in the minds of many of Amazon’s customers.

For those who are unaware, the Amazon Echo is a device that essentially acts as a home computer that is instantly activated the second someone in the room says, “Alexa.” For instance, if you were cooking dessert and needed the recipe for homemade brownies, you could simply say “Alexa, read me a brownie recipe,” and the device would answer you within seconds. But while this sounds like something straight out of a science fiction movie, the underlying problems that come with a device that constantly listens for that activation word can be rather significant.

As Breitbart reports, “At the moment, developers making apps that will use Alexa are only permitted to see non-identifying information, such as location data, how often users talk to their devices, and how many times a specific ‘skill’ is used. If full transcripts were visible to developers, the greater amount of data could be put to use in order to improve and fine-tune their applications.”

Although ex-product head for the Alexa team, Ahmed Bouzid, claims that developers are currently only allowed to see “70 percent of what they need to know,” The Informationexplains that some have access to every single piece of information that is gathered by the Alexa device. This acquisition of this data is not only a clear violation of Fourth Amendment privacy rights, but it also opens the door to an entire world full of hackers who are eager and capable of breaking in and stealing your personal information.

During a speech earlier this summer at the Cheltenham Science Festival, cyber security expert Dr. Jason Nurse elaborated on the very real privacy concerns regarding these Amazon devices. “If hackers find a way to compromise these devices in our homes, they could have it recording all of the time and you wouldn’t necessarily know,” he explained. Nurse went on to say that hackers could hear you discussing holiday plans and find out when you will be away from home, or even collect credit card information.

If Amazon really does decide to give third-party developers access to all of the information collected by devices like the Amazon Echo and the Amazon Look, then it’s not a stretch that at least with respect to privacy, the company is going in the wrong direction. Corporations that are constantly putting out new forms of technology should never stop doing so, but that being said, it is also important that they maintain a level of respect for the Fourth Amendment. If our country continues to develop new technology but the liberties of the American people are squandered in the process, what is the point?

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

TheInformation.com

NaturalNews.com

Mother reported to child services for “oral neglect” for switching child’s dentist

There are a number of things that could get you a visit from child protective services. Forgetting to feed your kids for three days straight, for example, would undoubtedly result in the CPS knocking on your front door. The same goes for doing physical harm to your children and just generally not carrying out your responsibilities as a caring, nurturing parent. You would never expect, however, that child protective services would get involved for something as simple as switching your kid’s dentist, but for one mother in Canada, that’s exactly what happened.

When Melissa Lopez decided to go to a second dentist to get another opinion regarding her daughter’s teeth, she never expected that she would be reported to a social services agency. Much to her surprise, Melissa found herself reported for what was considered to be “oral neglect.”

“For someone to turn around and try to accuse me of neglecting her, its absurd,” she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Indeed, based on what we already know about the situation, it does seem unnecessary and even a bit silly for social services to have gotten involved. The first dentist that Melissa Lopez took her daughter Elianna to informed her that Elianna had nine cavities, which meant that Melissa would have to spend thousands of dollars to get them fixed.

When Melissa found herself becoming a bit skeptical about how much work she had been told had to be done on her daughter’s teeth, she decided to go to a second dentist to get another opinion. The second dentist told her that Elianna didn’t need as much dental work as the previous dentist had originally told her, so Melissa decided to go there.

When Melissa forgot to contact the first dentist’s office and tell them that she was going with someone else for her daughter’s dental work, the first dentist decided to call the Children’s Aid Society (CAS), who then informed Melissa that she was under investigation for “oral neglect.” Even though Melissa provided the CAS with proof that she had in fact gotten her daughter the dental care that she needed, her name will still be on file for the rest of her life. (Related: Pediatrician calls child protective services on mother for refusing to vaccinate her child.)

“It will always be there, 10, 15, 20 years from now,” Melissa said of the CAS’s file they now have on her. “I’m red-flagged, I’ve been marked, and there’s no reason for this to have happened.”

As ridiculous as all of this sounds, it is worth noting that the dentist who reported Melissa was simply complying with the law. According to Kevin Marsh, the director of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, The Child and Family Services Act requires that everyone in the healthcare field get in touch with the Children’s Aid Society if they suspect that some form of abuse or neglect is happening. (Related: Will your child be removed from home for refusing vaccines?)

“Health-care professionals and other people who work closely with children have a special responsibility under the act,” Marsh said in an interview with CBC. Melissa, however, disagrees with the CAS getting involved, and still feels as though she did nothing wrong.

“I would absolutely love it if they would just remove that file for me, because I don’t feel there was any just reason to report me in the first place,” she said. “As a mother, you pride yourself on how you raise your kids. I have three kids – they’re healthy, they’re happy, they do great in school, they have lots of friends,” Melissa continued. “For someone to turn around and try to accuse me of neglecting her, it’s absurd.”

To be fair, Melissa did have a responsibility to contact the first dentist and inform him that they were switching to someone else, but on the flip side, it wouldn’t have been difficult for the first dentist to reach out to Melissa before contacting CAS either.

Sources include:

OffTheGridNews.com

NewsTread.com