According to a report in Britain's Daily Mail, a recent report by Consumer Watchdog, a U.S. Consumer Protection Agency, shows how patent applications from Amazon and Google expose how their smart speakers "overhear" users. According to the research, patent applications from the two giants show that these devices may be used as monitoring devices to collect large amounts of information and advertisements.
The study warns that in the near future, smart speakers will listen to you all, from some confidential conversations to your toilet flushing paradigm, and new versions of smart home products can even collect user data And to promote the corresponding product.
The study found
Amazon, Google smart speakers monitor the user through the speaker
Google HOME and Amazon Echo are two of the best-selling smart speakers on the market today. Google Home was launched in 2016 to make it the home of voice, music or answering easy questions, connecting to home lights, thermostats and more Control Center. Amazon Echo is known as 'Alexa' voice assistant to communicate with users like friends, while playing music, news, online shopping orders, car calls, takeout and more.
However, Consumer Watchdog's research uncovers loopholes that appear to be tall, intelligent speakers that, intellectually, respond only when they hear a 'wake-up word.' For Amazon's Echo speakers Said that the wake-up word is 'Alexa', and for the Google Home smart home device, the awakening word is 'OK, Google.' The group study found that even when users think smart speakers are in a 'hibernate' state, they can be 'Awakening'. In fact, these devices are always listening as long as they are on the open, while Amazon envisages using the voice assistant Alexa to gather information and create a profile of anyone in the room and to market the product accordingly .
It is reported that Amazon submitted an algorithm patent application, the algorithm allows the future of intelligent voice devices to identify the statement of interest.For example, the user said 'I like skiing', the device can monitor through the speaker, and recommend related ads for this preference .
Google's patent application, however, describes a scenario where the future smart home system monitors all activities of the family, according to which the device can obtain a variety of information, both family members' preferences for television programs and their hygiene habits, Get this related new technology.
John Simpson, director of privacy and technology programs at the organization, said: 'Google and Amazon want you to think that their smart home devices can help you with your voice, but in fact they spy on you and your family at home and Collect your event information as much as possible. '
Company statement
Amazon said it will not use customer's recordings for targeted advertising
In response, an Amazon spokesman said, 'We value privacy and have multiple layers of privacy protection set up at Echo smart home devices. We do not use customer recordings for targeted advertising. Like many companies, we Submitted many forward-looking patent applications and explored all the possibilities of new technologies.A new patent takes many years to gain recognition and does not necessarily reflect the current trends in products and services.
But Consumer Watchdog, the consumer protection group, said Google and Amazon are most interested in snooping on ads for the data they get in their daily lives and can be accessed by others as soon as the information is available - for example, some home insurance companies and public The cause company has reached an agreement with smart thermostat company Nest to put smart speakers on the customer's home.
Law enforcement has tried to get the information gathered by smart devices, and Amazon Echo speakers made headlines last year when U.S. police were investigating a murder and attempting to retrieve the device's recordings.
Consumer Watch's study warns that hackers and identity thieves may also have access to data that Google and Amazon monitor.
China falls
Two smart speakers Taobao sell a number of domestic companies to push similar products
At present, Amazon's Echo speakers and Google's Google Home launched in the Chinese market are not listed, but there are sellers on Taobao sales.Among them, 2017, the latest Echo Plus sells for more than a thousand dollars, while the mini version of Google Home Price between 300-500 yuan.
It is understood that Echo is a smart speaker Amazon released in June 2015, it is equipped with a microphone display composed of seven microphones, you can clearly capture the voice of 15 meters away.It's background is a named Alexa Echo understands and executes host's voice commands such as' Find and Play Adele's Hottest Singles', 'Reduce the temperature of your home's smart oven from 220 ° to 125 °, etc. Wait.
Google released a similar product, Google Home, in May 2016 that uses Google Assistant to identify the user's voice control and translate it into a fully-intelligent voice-activated source of information at home.
With these two smart home products in the country red, a number of domestic companies have also introduced similar products .In April 2017, Lenovo introduced smart speaker product Smart Assistant, its cylindrical appearance looks like Amazon's Echo speaker is very similar The product is still in the evaluation stage in China, but in the United States official website has been on sale, priced at 129.99 US dollars.
Interpretation of experts
Should be avoided to reverse the data collected by the server to specific individuals
Kingsoft Internet Security tycoon Li Tiejun in an interview with the Legal Evening News reporter said that the smart home device through the terminal to collect the appropriate voice data collected and transmitted to the server for voice AI program analysis using intelligent speakers will collect the user's speech, which involves voice recognition and instructions carried out.
From the perspective of privacy protection, the data collected by the server should be avoided from being pushed back to a specific individual, that is, the server collects a lot of voice clips, and the AI program analyzes and processes these voices to recognize the contents of the voice, The result you want is fed back to the speakers, but if you push back from the smart device to determine the user's identity, there is a privacy risk.
Han Weili, vice president of Software School of Fudan University, said in an interview with the media before: 'To solve the security problem of IoT smart home application, we must first increase investment in system security technology and use technology to counter technology.' He pointed out that the analysis of smart home The possible security problems and the clarification of their nature are very complicated and serious scientific issues that require researchers to devote a great deal of manpower and resources to carrying out extensive and in-depth work based on the technology itself and its practical application. In this respect, the smart home and Things people in the field of Internet of Things despise.