Our son works in the intelligence field and will not have one in their home. Or a smart tv. Or an Echo Dot. I have an Alexa in my kitchen, but just use it for music, lists and weather info.

I guess this is the thread to share a bit of creepiness.

The other day I was on my MacBook and all of a sudden my neighbor's face appeared. I was so startled I jumped up and moved away from the screen. She immediately called our landline and said she had meant to call my dh's cell and hit Facetime by mistake. How in the world did she end up on my screen?

“ How in the world did she end up on my screen? “

You have not disabled FaceTime on your MacBook.

But how did she end up on my screen when she was calling my dh's cell?

She said she hit FaceTime by mistake. It has to do with your Contacts list, and the Contacts list shared between devices. If your husband’s iPhone shares with the MacBook (Contacts) it happens.

There are probably more tech ways to say this.

eta: the first time a call to my cellphone also came to my iPad it scared the beeJesus out of me. Now I like being able to answer on my iPad, instead of digging in my purse for my iPhone.

Shortly after she arrived, Alexa was banished to the pantry. While we certainly don’t have anything to hide, I really value my privacy and the idea that they “listen” gave me the Willy’s. Plus, I have a family member with a similar name and every time someone said that name, she’d respond. Maybe one day I will be able to find a new forever home for her but so far no one is interested.

Maddielee I’m another who loves that my iphone rings on my ipad! I also like that if I really need to make a call I can use Facetime even for regular calls.

It's not necessarily just a matter of "them spying on us", but a collective normalizing of this type of intrusive technology and the potential implications for how this could be used for mass coercion and control, in my opinion. Of course, the spying is also troubling, because what if somewhere down the line some of us become "undesirables" who say subversive things and hold ideologies that differ from the cultivated norm? We think such extreme Orwellian scenarios would never play out in America. We need to think again.

“ We think such extreme Orwellian scenarios would never play out in America. We need to think again.”

True story...way before Alexa, the Internet or computers in every hand I had a loved one who was taking a job that needed high security clearance. This was about 1974. When he was sitting down with the powers who would make the decision to hire he was grilled about his taking part in the March on Washington in 1963. In 1963 he was a high school student who drove to DC to take part in the march. He was never a public person, never a protester. There was never media coverage of his attending, but they knew he was there.

He got the job.

I am not and never have been worried about it. People who never heard of Alexa and her ilk are always being cyber attacked. Credit cards, phone scams, people at the front door.

My loved one is a retired investigative reporter. With his old work computer and his skills I wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't find out anything he wanted to know about everyone on th thread in about five minutes. Names, addresses, credit scores, employment history, mortgages, lovers, children...it's all there for the taking, no Alexa necessary. What else is there to worry about? Being found out?

If it's Big Brother you're worried about, he already knows. Alexa isn't going to tell him anything new. If it's nefarious people out there, they have access to the same info Alexa and my dear old hubby have.

Lynn, people on this thread are worried that Alexa is always listening, your son won't have one in his house, yet you have one on the.kitchen counter. Good for you! Put her to good use.

I understand that there have long been methods for information to be gleaned. My point is that we have invited devices into our homes and thereby into our lives as never before. We are willingly doing the legwork for "them" (or whatever it is that one day becomes "them"). It is truly unprecedented. And none of us can claim to know with certainty what future implications this could hold, but those who are concerned are not silly for being so.

Ok.

Maddilee, the government has FBI agents talking to all your neighbors and school teachers practically when they do security clearances- even today. But back then they really had to work for that intel ;-)

The thing that gave me most cause for pause was signing up for TSA pre-check. I had to get fingerprinted which I've never done. Perhaps irrational but I have more concern about the government messing with my life than anyone else. I did it anyway for the convenience. I used to almost always just get TSA pre-check designation without signing up for it so I figure they already had my info. The finger printing gave me the creeps though. At least no one has my DNA. And I don't share my every move on Facebook or any other social media - in fact I don't use it at all. Interesting times.....I wonder what my parents would have thought about all this.

Funny story about grandparents. My great grandmother was born in Chicago in 1873, the youngest of umpteen children. When the city was being electrfied, her father is said to have ranted and raved about the dangers and uselessness of electricity and he was having nothing to do with such a costly, ridiculous thing. They didn't need such stupid stuff in Greece and that's where he was going to return if anyone tried to get into his house to snoop around. As for plumbing and running water, the pump in the kitchen worked just fine. How lazy can you get?

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The idea that if I'm hacked nobody's going to get anything of any value, or if I'm spied upon nobody's going to learn much of interest, may be all fine and well for the individual, but there are greater societal implications to consider as advances continue at breakneck speed. For instance, it's widely known that facial recognition technology may have an extremely negative impact on already-marginalized segments of the population. I almost hesitate to say that a nonchalant attitude about technology is borne of privilege (usually white), but if you research the issue you have no choice but to draw certain correlations. Too, it's often asked "Who is watching the watchers?" -- which should, IMO, give all of us pause.

Ok

This is the latest technology at colleges and universities: beacons to "track" student attendance and whereabouts. It would not surprise me at all if my employer decided to implement something like this, especially since we are a tuition-driven university, we have a giant focus on retention because anyone who doesn't return is $$$ out the door. But this is getting to the slippery slope for me.

tracking students by beacons

She said she hit FaceTime by mistake. It has to do with your Contacts list, and the Contacts list shared between devices. If your husband’s iPhone shares with the MacBook (Contacts) it happens.

It was my husband's phone she was calling, but she ended up on my computer. His contact list isn't shared with my computer. (And if it is that's very creepy.) He has his own computer. She's not even in my email contacts.

Some good comments on this thread, but personally I am willing to use the technology and take the attendant risks for the benefits it confers.

I am thinking of changing my Alexa wakeword to "hey Siri" and letting them battle it out. I do notice that his answer is always just to send you to the web, whereas she tries harder to give you an actual answer and is great when she does, but too often just says "hmm, I'm not sure."

Plus my Siri is an Aussie guy, which i prefer for a constant companion.

Sheesh, the "ok" isn't really necessary. Are you just trying to make it known you're reading? Or is it something perhaps a bit more passive aggressive behind the one-word replies?

gscience - Does one have to subscribe to read the article? I'm unable to get the page to advance, but would really like to read this.

Sheesh, your story is not parallel. The fact of the matter is this kind of intrusive technology has been deployed against Uighurs in China and HK pro democracy protestors. Nobody used electrification and indoor plumbing as the primary tools for identifying and rounding people up to dispatch them to concentration camps. Uighurs, though, have had facial recognition and gps tracking used to imprison and torture them. Of course something like that could never happen here. We would never lash out at a group of people we saw as the enemy for some reason, right?

So, while I respect everyone's decisions about how much of this kind of technology to accept, I am less comfortable with a false narrative that rubbishes the opinions of others.

(Japanese internment camps, anyone?)

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The cat is out of the bag. Technology isn't going to stop evolving no matter how careful we try to be. Think of all the cameras on and in buildings tied to facial recognition. Traffic tickets are being issued by the millions in cities via camera, no human interaction involved. My tollway pass is updated automatically and shoes a picture of my face every time I am on the highway.

some people here have posted many pictures of themselves on this forum. How is that hiding from anyone?

I am completely confused that people using the internet right here and now, and watching tv, using credit and debit cards, driving cars, buying tickets for concerts or airplane/train/bus passes and all the other conveniences of modern life, gift cards, Christmas shopping on line, etc., are concerned about their privacy! It is way too late to hide. You're on candid camera!

Alexa, what time is it?

We have an echo and echo dot. We mostly use ours for music. I do like having the dot in the kitchen. We mostly use Amazon Music (free with Prime).

You are right, technology is not going to stop evolving. This particular basket of technologies we are discussing are symbiotic. They cannot evolve without our participation. And while on the whole I am too lazy to opt out, it seems worthwhile to think about what the uses for the technology are, not just for us, the happy users, but for corporations and governments. Unlike the Uighurs, we still live in a democracy and we still have some say in our future.

Of course it is "way too late to hide." That's not the issue. We all can recount occurrences from our daily lives that demonstrate how we interact with technology. We have no say in some of it. We do, however, still retain at least a modicum of choice when it comes to what we allow into our homes and what we do not. I am confused by people who do not seem the least bit concerned at what we may be hurtling towards. We may not be able to stop it. Does that mean we must fall lockstep in place and stop even considering disturbing potentialities?

Some who are so worried about using a device like the Echo, and speak loudly against them, still use their OnStar, Goggle, Amazon, NetFlix, GPS, and music services like Spotify.

Set your privacy settings and passwords, change them often, don’t tell state secrets to your friends when near any device.

How Spotify can hurt you

Ok!

I just don't see the difference in what you're pointing out. It is already out there, and you're participating in it at this moment! We cannot hide from it no matter what we do, so, yes, I will invite technology into my home and life and take full.advantage of it.

Me too, sheesh.

We'll have to agree to disagree then, won't we?

I do wish peace of mind to all, no matter what we think or what we choose.

LOL, I think Christmas has people on edge! I am not interested in any of these voice command things but then I never bought a "clapper" for my lights either.

We mostly use Amazon Music (free with Prime).

But Prime is not free.

Me three, sheesh and maddielee.

Who'd of thought this would be a shoes in the house or not topic, but I do like hearing a variety of opinions and good discussions. But if Alexa starts talking to me randomly, no no nope!

She wont, bumblebeez. Sometimes she mistakenly thinks she hears the wake word, but ignore her and she goes away again.

And shoes are welcome in my house, too!

We are heading to son's house to continue the marathon because it is granddaughter's birthday! We are giving her an echo dot for her room.

No, Prime is not free, but we purchase frequently from Amazon, so it saves us money. Amazon music is just an add-on to having Prime (as are several other things).

I have enough voices in my head as is, and talk to myself too much, and even have dialogues with people who frankly are not there, not at the moment..I probably have several ..Alexas already implanted..))

I also talk to things in the house. Teapot, broom, you name it. If they'd answer..

In short Alexa would be really an overkill

Yes I agree it's too late, and all, in terms of technology that's evolving..and in my case, also huge "peer pressure". Now it looks like I'm gonna have my first real smartpone..because what can I do, they(friends and family) are many, and I'm alone. Poor little baby(c))

I'd been resisting for years..Not anything ideological, I just don't really need it, etc. To me, old laptop is fine.Easier too to operate , for my own boring reasons. But for most of other people, I become an inconvenience..

Yes to shoes in the house (I need to re-read the thread..how it got to shoes? )..I myself always change though when at home. I was conditioned to change. To the point that I can't hardly bear to be without a watch outside, but inside, I suddenly feel it as "an outside thing" and take it off.

(DH was probably conditioned differently,,always in jeans and looking like he's just arrived or ready to leave any moment, which is usually true. Drives me crazy. Bought him pajamas today. He'll never wear it probably but I'll feel like I've done my duty in keeping him more comfortable. In my standards))

Happy Holidays everyone!

I am usually a tad slow to adopt new tech-not from any ideological concern-just more of a general contentment with my personal status quo regarding that stuff, lol. Like iOS updates throw me off for a few days...I just don’t like change. To be fair to myself, I’ve always been this way, it’s not a middle age thing, lol.

I will say, I often have the thought if I had written a book or movie about current tech 30 years ago...I think the windowless large vans with the ubiquitous smile on the side that dot every street would be quite a chilling descriptive device, right? :) Straight out of Orwell!

Sorry, went out to Spin class.

WashingtonPost gives a couple of free articles a month; otherwise, it is paywalled. They used to give free subscriptions to .edu emails, but they ended that.

Here's another similar article. tracking at VCU

Thanks!

I have my Alexa unplugged until I want to listen to music. I found her to be annoying otherwise. Maybe if she were a he with an Aussie or Kiwi accent I’d change my mind.

Friends I visit frequently have their coffeemaker plugged into a smart plug and a Dot in their BR that they use to turn the coffeemaker on. Annoying when I wake up before them. I hesitate to command Alexa in their kitchen to turn on the plug in case she gets confused, as mine seems to.

You probably can just turn on the coffee as you normally would, Delilah. I override my plugs whenever I want to, never a problem.

I'm glad to know that sheesh. I connected the Alexa yesterday and was wondering if I connected lamps if I could still turn them on manually.

It's not an automatic coffeemaker. It's already turned on. The outlet has to be activated through Alexa.

Hmm, interesting. I guess I don't have any idea about their new fangled contraption. Can your hosts help? We have plugs and spots and lightbulbs and all sorts of things connected to our Alexa, and we can override all of them easily. That seems essential to me. I hope you can get some early morning coffee easily, Delilah.

Can you unplug the coffee maker and plug it into another outlet? We have double outlets side by side. One side is smart the other isn’t (poor thing).

We have an OXO Barista Brain coffee maker with a stainless carafe, set it up at night, set the timer and coffee is ready by the time we get downstairs in the am. No Alexa needed, and I’m not such a tin foil hat type that I think the coffee maker is listening. Yet.

Just like my coffeepot, lakeaffect!

I've started listening to podcasts during my daily walk. 99% Invisible (free) has some fun and interesting topics. The other day I listed to one about an early chatbot called ELIZA and how people will engage with a computer, even when they understand it's not a real person. This won't convince some of you to invite Alexa into your home, but it's a bit of background for those of us who do.

The ELIZA Effect