Alexa Outsmarts George Orwell.

[gordi]

I have had conversations with my niece about these (and similar) devices.

She INSISTS that the device remains OFF until she says the keyword (ALEXA?) to start the device.
I have pointed out that the device MUST ALREADY BE LISTENING for it to be able to hear the keyword (ALEXA?).

She CANNOT and WILL NOT see the logic in my argument. She insists that it's OFF because the BLUE LIGHT ISN'T ON!!!!

Arrrgh!!

On "Smart" phones...
The first thing that I did when I got one was to turn OFF all of the "location services".

Well, guess what...?
It still tracks me.

How do I know?
Because one day I was in a neighbouring town (through work) and I took my lunch break outside a small independent building supplies company with a very specific and individual name. There is only ONE BRANCH of this company anywhere, and I was parked outside of it for maybe 20mins on one single occasion.

I didn't use my phone at all. No calls, texts, apps, check-ins... nothing.
My location services were still disabled.

That evening, about 5-6 hours later, I switched on my main PC at home and when I logged into a site (I can't remember if it was FB or similar) an ad came up on my sidebar for that one very specific building supplies company that I had been parked near. I have never before seen an ad for that company, and have never seen one since. I have never been a customer of theirs, and have never visited their website or any site associated with them.
THE ONLY WAY that I have had any connection with them, was parking outside their building for 20mins one lunchtime.
They are not a sophisticated company! There would be no way for them to identify me from my simply being near their location. It MUST have been my phone, "reporting" its location without my permission.

I don't want advertising on every single device and website. I find it intrusive and I object to having to PAY for the BANDWIDTH which carries it, without any specific permission given from me. IMHO this is theft.
If I log onto someone else's unsecured router and use their bandwidth without permission, I am guilty of theft.
So, why are THEY allowed to do it to me?

THEY should NOT be ALLOWED to listen to our PRIVATE conversations, READ our PRIVATE Emails, LOOK at our activities via our PRIVATE webcams, TRACK our locations via mobile phone services that we have CHOSEN TO SWITCH OFF, or use OUR PRIVATE BANDWIDTH to PUSH advertising that we don't want at us.

What kind of a world do those responsible for all of the above want their own kids to grow up in?

/rant.