Don't love the idea of some random Amazon employee reviewing your Alexa query about whether or Watch Psych 2: Lassie Come Home Onlinenot it's safe for the dog to eat honeydew? Now you can opt out.
(It issafe, and even healthy, for your dog to eat some honeydew, by the way.)
The new privacy feature is a months-later response to the April revelation that some Amazon employees manually review recorded exchanges with Alexa, and can see where the user is located. You can find it in the Alexa Privacy section of Amazon's website or smartphone apps.
All Alexa users should probably go ahead and opt out now, given Amazon's handling of the issue so far. When word first emerged that employees were manually reviewing Alexa recordings -- a practice that wasn't disclosed in Alexa's terms and conditions at the time -- Amazon claimed that those employees had no way to connect a recording with the user's location.
Specifically, the company's statement read: "[Employees] do not have direct access to information that can identify the person or account as part of this workflow."
Then, later in April, that claim turned out to be untrue. Bloomberg reported (and Mashable independently confirmed) that manual reviewers can view the location data Amazon collects, specifically the latitude and longitude where the recording is made. That info could then be plugged into Google Maps to get an address.
It looks like Amazon isn't halting the manual review process entirely, but it's taking a more transparent approach to informing users on how their interactions with Alexa are handled. The new privacy setting is paired with a disclaimer that explains how recordings are used to improve Amazon, and that "[o]nly an extremely small fraction of voice recordings are manually reviewed."
The added privacy featured arrived on the same day Apple suspended a program that had human reviewers listening to exchanges with the company's Siri voice assistant.
Google faced similar issues back in July, when there was a leak of more than 1,000 Google Assistant recordings from a similar manual review program. In the aftermath, the company stated that manual reviews had been paused, and that users could opt out of having recordings stored in their activity controls menu.
[h/t Bloomberg]
Topics Amazon Amazon Alexa Cybersecurity Privacy
Today's NYT mini crossword answers for June 22, 2025
Diary, 2010 by Adam Levin
Back to the Essence by The Paris Review
Worm Moon by Nina MacLaughlin
Most Anticipated PC Games of 2025
Does the Parent Own the Child’s Body?: On Taryn Simon’s Sleep by Rachel Cusk
Conversations to the Tune of Air
Cooking with Dorothy Sayers by Valerie Stivers
Inter Milan vs. Urawa Red Diamonds 2025 livestream: Watch Club World Cup for free
Nana Nkweti, Fiction by Nana Nkweti
The rise of YouTube: 20 years of creators, culture, and content at VidCon
Redux: Like No One Else by The Paris Review
Nana Nkweti, Fiction by Nana Nkweti
In Odesa: Recommended Reading by Ilya Kaminsky
Real Madrid vs. CF Pachuca 2025 livestream: Watch Club World Cup for free
Rhetoric and Rhyme: On Rap by Daniel Levin Becker
Redux: Furry Faces by The Paris Review
Redux: The Poet’s Nerve by The Paris Review
England vs. India 2025 livestream: Watch Test 1 of India Tour of England for free
Diary, 2022 by Catherine Lacey
Dad celebrates cancer'Ghost in the Shell' VR, like the film, misses opportunity to be great'Planet Earth II' is the best 4K Blu5 pages from 'The Art of the Deal' that explain exactly what Trump's doingWe don't need April Fools' Day anymore because we're living a fake news nightmareAmazon is recruiting social media celebrities to start their own stores on its siteMarvel VP clarifies disheartening diversity statementsDad celebrates cancerElon Musk's rant on aliens and chemtrails is your April Fools' Day science treatScientists have recreated a period — and it's a big deal for women's healthDedicated mailman tries to be helpful, accidentally drops package in the worst place ever'Ghost in the Shell' VR, like the film, misses opportunity to be greatPornhub scares everyone to death with its terrifying April Fools' Day prankMark Hamill is narrating a Hulu show all about internet horrorsDedicated mailman tries to be helpful, accidentally drops package in the worst place everTwitter kills egg avatar instead of hate speech and no this is not an April Fools' jokeWe don't need April Fools' Day anymore because we're living a fake news nightmare12 tweets that simultaneously drag April Fools and the Trump presidencyThis super bizarre George Foreman tweet contains multitudes'Planet Earth II' is the best 4K Blu 5 New Paintings by Mamma Andersson R. Crumb’s Very Personal Response to Charlie Hebdo How Horror Games Like “The Evil Within” Violate Our Trust Simon Says Wyze security camera owners report seeing strangers' camera feeds Haunting Ink Paintings on Old Hardcover Books All the News Not Fit to Print Pets have no idea it's daylight savings time, and it's going to be a rough week Microsoft will offer legal protections to its AI Copilot users Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for September 12 The Morning News Roundup for January 5, 2015 What Happened Between Hemingway and John Dos Passos? What to do when your fav becomes cringe Rimbaud’s Poetry Inspired an MIT Professor to Rob a Bank 'Forgiving Johnny' review: AI's unlikely role in restorative justice Are Foreclosed Homes the New Haunted Houses? What It’s Like to Write About the Dead Every Day Homesick for Sadness Best headphones and earbuds: Get a pair of headphones up to 60% off Apple Watch Series 9 announced: Specs, prices, release date
3.4449s , 10114.3671875 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Watch Psych 2: Lassie Come Home Online】,Co-creation Information Network