You can try out things without owning them. You can also buy electronics and stop using them. I have an Alexa speaker because I wanted to see how it worked, I wanted to take it apart and look at the near field/far field microphones and I wanted to analyse network traffic while idling, while muted and in standby with Wireshark. You can’t do that without having the hardware. I don’t use Alexa to control my appliances and I created a separate VLAN for that bug.
If I just wanted to try it, I could ask a person I know with an Alexa if I could. Or I could order it and send it back. Or I could get one at work and use it there.
You can try out things without owning them. You can also buy electronics and stop using them. I have an Alexa speaker because I wanted to see how it worked, I wanted to take it apart and look at the near field/far field microphones and I wanted to analyse network traffic while idling, while muted and in standby with Wireshark. You can’t do that without having the hardware. I don’t use Alexa to control my appliances and I created a separate VLAN for that bug.
If I just wanted to try it, I could ask a person I know with an Alexa if I could. Or I could order it and send it back. Or I could get one at work and use it there.
Edited my initial comment ITT to reflect that.
Oh, well, yes I agree. I was thinking about more typical usage, like just connecting Alexa device to a wall, wifi and daily using it (for some time).
Edit: on second thought: it is still an quite hostile device under your roof in which you live (talk, etc).