Independent – by Aatif Sulleyman
Amazon has argued that the voice of Alexa, the artificial intelligence assistant used in its range of Echo speakers, has First Amendment rights.
The company is fighting an order to hand over recordings from an Amazon Echo used by James Andrew Bates, who is on trial for allegedly murdering his friend Victor Collins in Arkansas in November 2015.
Amazon has filed a 90-page document, which is available to read on Forbes, contesting the warrant demanding the audio covering the 48-hour period from 21-22 November 2015.
The firm has handed over subscriber information and purchase history, but claims that both Echo users’ voice commands and Alexa’s responses are protected as free speech.
“Once the Echo device detects the wake word, the Alexa Voice Service endeavors to respond to any ensuing voice communications detected in the user’s home,” the document reads.
“Accordingly, searching Alexa’s recordings is not the same as searching a drawer, a pocket, or a glove compartment. Like cell phones, such modern ‘smart’ electronic devices contain a multitude of data that can ‘reveal much more in combination than any isolated record,’ allowing those with access to it to reconstruct ‘[t]he sum of an individual’s private life.’”
It continues: “The recordings stored by Amazon for a subscriber’s Echo device will usually be both (1) the user’s speech, in the form of a request for information from Alexa, and (2) a transcript or depiction of the Alexa Voice Service response conveying the information it determines would be most responsive to the user’s query.
“Both types of information are protected speech under the First Amendment.”
The Alexa voice assistant is widely recognised as the best in the industry, and is set to land on a range of new product categories in the near future, including cars, phones, fridges and TVs.
“Amazon will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us” an Amazon spokesperson told the Associated Press. “Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course.”
In a similar case last year, Apple resisted orders from the FBI to unlock the phone of one of the individuals responsible for a mass shooting in San Bernardino, though the FBI eventually managed to gain access to its contents without the assistance of the company.
The claim appears to be that the communication between the user and the device is to be considered as private speech, not that the device (application software) itself has any rights. I would agree that unless the user allows the content to be revealed, that any of his/her interaction is his/her own protected private communication, and should remain private.
Its already too late. Damn! This is the most stupid of developments to ever take place. So, when the robots acquire independent thought and decide that we humans are in their way…..that WE obstruct THEM…….what then????
I have to say…
In a synchronicity experience at the local truck stop pilot bathroom.
It didn’t make sense to me at the time.
But I saw graffiti on the bathroom stall that said..
“For a good time call Alexa…she’s a whore.”
On a side note …
Did you know that there are unadvertised brothels… in Elko.NV…
Did you know that most brothels here in northern NV…. are owned by old white women in motorized handicapper carts.
But…don’t take my word for it.
I’m just a dummmbazz posting on a website.
This is a Fourth Amendment issue; I don’t see how the First Amendment comes into it.
Beyond that, I see two major possibilities here.
One is that Amazon’s resistance to the order to turn over that data is bogus, a public charade being played out by the Deep State and Amazon. Why? So people will be fooled into thinking Amazon cares about their privacy and will be less reluctant to hold private conversations in front of Alexa-enabled devices.
Another possibility is that Amazon really doesn’t want to turn over that data. Maybe they’re afraid that doing so will hinder the public acceptance of Alexa and harm sales of devices like the Echo.
Well, my money is on the first scenario, and I think a similar scheme was behind the public reluctance of Apple to help unlock that iPhone.
Long story short: Unless you don’t mind your private conversations being recorded, NEVER bring any Echo-type device into your home, and NEVER hold a private conversation in the same room as a cell phone, laptop, or any other device that’s capable of wireless networking (even if it’s apparently not connected at the time).