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Most voice assistants are gendered. From Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana, virtual assistants generally default to female voices. Now, a new report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization highlights why that’s such a problem. The report — “I’d blush If I could: Closing Gender Divides in Digital Skills Through Education” — examined gender bias coded in tech describing the problem as “pervasive in the technology sector and apparent in digital skills education.” Critiques of female virtual assistants have often noted how using a female voice perpetuates the idea that women are meant to be docile servants — or even digital slaves. After all, voice assistants often take a myriad of abuse without the ability to ever snap back. It may seem trivial, but researchers honed in on one disturbing aspect: voice assistants’ responses to sexual harassment. For example, when Siri is told, “You’re a slut,” one of the responses includes, “I’d blush...
After reports of a built-in Nest microphone, Google admits it was an “error on our part” but a simple apology might not cut it. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to make Google divest from Nest, as reported by Business Insider . In a letter to the FTC , the privacy advocacy group expressed concerns over potential consumer risk, writing, “It is entirely unclear whether Google, a remote hacker, or anyone else enabled the microphones in the Nest devices after they were installed by customers in their homes.” Google says the microphone has never been on, because it only becomes active when users themselves enable the option. However, Google has struggled with devices recording data without permission before. For example, in 2017, a flaw in Google’s mini speaker allowed it to secretly record conversations without users knowing. “The FTC should now commence an enforcement action against Google,” the EPIC wrote, “with the aim...
After Google told users its Nest Secure system’s upgrade would let it be used as another Google Assistant speaker, people were confused—because they didn’t know Nest had a microphone, to begin with. Now, Google says the built-in Nest microphone was never supposed to be a secret. Nest Secure, home security and alarm system, originally launched in 2017. However, nothing about the product disclosed its microphone. A spokesperson told Business Insider that the microphone “should have been listed in the tech specs. That was an error on our part.” There’s been controversy around various home speakers and their recordings before. Amazon’s Alexa once sent 1,700 hours of recordings to the wrong person. Plus in 2017, Google admitted a flaw in their mini speaker let it secretly record conversations without users knowing. In its statement, Google did say, “The microphone has never been on, and is only activated when users specifically enable the option.” Still, it’s reminiscent of a 2010...
Smart home speakers like Amazon Echo/Alexa and Google Home/Assistant already listen to users, but now, Amazon and Google want to know even more, according to Bloomberg. A 2018 Adobe study predicted half of American homes will own a smart speaker by this year. The study found 32% of the country already owned a smart speaker, as reported by Fortune, and 16% planned on getting one during the holidays. With smart speakers becoming more common, Bloomberg reported Amazon and Google are asking smart-home product companies to send a steady information stream from any device connected to their speakers. According to Bloomberg, this looks like your lights reporting to Amazon every time they’re turned on or off, even if you didn’t ask Alexa to do it. Most people know their smart speakers store some type of data, but there’s been issues around privacy concerns before. In December 2018, an Amazon user in Germany requested data about his personal activities. Amazon ended up sending him 1,700...