My girlfriend gave me an Alexa assistant as a gift with all good will, since she knows I like technology. I know in terms of privacy it is garbage, however I wonder if there is a safe way to use some functions of this device, perhaps without internet. Some way to hack it or something, do you guys know something about this?

  • Morse
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Alexa devices aren’t great for privacy, but they’re not nearly as bad as people like to think. They’re surely not as bad as your phone, especially if you’re not installing a bunch of skills.

    They don’t send any data out unless they’re activated with the wake word. Alternatively, that means everything you say after that wake word is being recorded and sent to Amazon and who knows who else after that. By far the biggest privacy concern with them is when they mistakenly hear the wake word, and start sending data out without you realizing it. If this is a concern to you, I’d suggest leaving it unplugged when you don’t plan on using it, or plugging it into a “smart outlet”. Get a reputable one because that brings its own set of security and privacy concerns, or get one of the RF ones that turn on/off with a remote.

        • Morse
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Neither of those concerns are exclusive to an Alexa device though. They’d apply to any communication device (phone, tablet, computer, laptop, or any other smart/connected device).

    • 3yiyo3OP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      And how can we be sure that it isnt sending data when it isn’t called by the wake word?

      • Morse
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        You can use Wireshark to sniff the packets leaving your network. I use a PiHole to see all of my network traffic.