Re Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Chuck McManis <chuck.mcmanis () gmail com>
> Date: April 5, 2018 at 11:42:58 AM EDT
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?
>
> Regarding what can they hear and how can companies use it ...
>
> I know from working at Google that at least back in 2008 some of the advertising folks were trying to figure out if 
> they put a microphone in a store and pick up the same voice print of someone who had asked for directions to that 
> store using the Goog-411 service. The goal being to create the equivalent of a 'click' in the online world that they 
> could bill the company for sending that customer their way. I worked for about a month using some 20% time to sketch 
> out what would have to be true for something like that to work, for example a microphone near the entrance to the 
> store and a greater who would say hello to people, encouraging them to say hello back so that a voice sample could be 
> collected. 
>
> That project didn't really go anywhere as far as I could tell, Google was still leery about building hardware that 
> had to live outside of data centers.
>
> --Chuck
>
>
>
> > On Tue, Apr 3, 2018 at 4:10 AM, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> > > Date: April 3, 2018 at 7:00:23 AM EDT
> > > To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> > > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?
> > > Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
> > >
> > > Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?
> > > By SAPNA MAHESHWARI
> > > Mar 31 2018
> > > <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/31/business/media/amazon-google-privacy-digital-assistants.html>
> > >
> > > Amazon ran a commercial on this year’s Super Bowl that pretended its digital assistant Alexa had temporarily lost 
> > > her voice. It featured celebrities like Rebel Wilson, Cardi B and even the company’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos.
> > >
> > > While the ad riffed on what Alexa can say to users, the more intriguing question may be what she and other digital 
> > > assistants can hear — especially as more people bring smart speakers into their homes.
> > >
> > > Amazon and Google, the leading sellers of such devices, say the assistants record and process audio only after 
> > > users trigger them by pushing a button or uttering a phrase like “Hey, Alexa” or “O.K., Google.” But each company 
> > > has filed patent applications, many of them still under consideration, that outline an array of possibilities for 
> > > how devices like these could monitor more of what users say and do. That information could then be used to identify 
> > > a person’s desires or interests, which could be mined for ads and product recommendations.
> > >
> > > In one set of patent applications, Amazon describes how a “voice sniffer algorithm”could be used on an array of 
> > > devices, like tablets and e-book readers, to analyze audio almost in real time when it hears words like “love,” 
> > > bought” or “dislike.” A diagram included with the application illustrated how a phone call between two friends 
> > > could result in one receiving an offer for the San Diego Zoo and the other seeing an ad for a Wine of the Month 
> > > Club membership.
> > >
> > > Some patent applications from Google, which also owns the smart home product maker Nest Labs, describe how audio 
> > > and visual signals could be used in the context of elaborate smart home setups.
> > >
> > > One application details how audio monitoring could help detect that a child is engaging in “mischief” at home by 
> > > first using speech patterns and pitch to identify a child’s presence, one filing said. A device could then try to 
> > > sense movement while listening for whispers or silence, and even program a smart speaker to “provide a verbal 
> > > warning.”
> > >
> > > A separate application regarding personalizing content for people while respecting their privacy noted that voices 
> > > could be used to determine a speaker’s mood using the “volume of the user’s voice, detected breathing rate, crying 
> > > and so forth,” and medical condition “based on detected coughing, sneezing and so forth.”
> > >
> > > The same application outlines how a device could “recognize a T-shirt on a floor of the user’s closet” bearing Will 
> > > Smith’s face and combine that with a browser history that shows searches for Mr. Smith “to provide a movie 
> > > recommendation that displays, ‘You seem to like Will Smith. His new movie is playing in a theater near you.’”
> > >
> > > In a statement, Amazon said the company took “privacy seriously” and did “not use customers’ voice recordings for 
> > > targeted advertising.” Amazon said that it filed “a number of forward-looking patent applications that explore the 
> > > full possibilities of new technology,” and that they “take multiple years to receive and do not necessarily reflect 
> > > current developments to products and services.”
> > >
> > > Google said it did not “use raw audio to extrapolate moods, medical conditions or demographic information.” The 
> > > company added, “All devices that come with the Google Assistant, including Google Home, are designed with user 
> > > privacy in mind.”
> > >
> > > Tech companies apply for a dizzying number of patents every year, many of which are never used and are years from 
> > > even being possible.
> > >
> > > Still, Jamie Court, the president of Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit advocacy group in Santa Monica, Calif., which 
> > > published a study of some of the patent applications in December, said, “When you read parts of the applications, 
> > > it’s really clear that this is spyware and a surveillance system meant to serve you up to advertisers.”
> > >
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/
> > > Twitter: https://twitter.com/wa8dzp
> >
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