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Comment by ShabbosGoy | Hacker News Reader

This comment is something an apologist of surveillance would write.

Yes, it is a surveillance powered store. That’s what it literally is. Just like Alexa and Google Home are literal always-on listening devices in your home.

Edit: A bit more context in case someone misunderstands. New technology can improve one’s life exponentially. But it is simulataneously capable of exacting great harm.

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But Alexa and Google Home aren't always on listening devices in your home -- at least not any sense that matters. They are always-on, and they do have microphones, but they are not recording every conversation and sending it to the mothership. You need to affirmatively request them to listen (via OK Google/Alexa/whatever hotword) before they are listening in a sense anyone should be concerned about.

That's true now (and I have several Alexa devices that I use daily and enjoy).

They're only a silent, over-the-net firmware update away from having always-on capabilities, though.

That and a reality inversion where this is in Amazon's or Google's best interest despite the massive blowback it would cause.

Everything in modern society is "surveillanced". The highways you drive on (highway cameras), the news sites you read (ad tracking), the dollars you make (IRS). Someone somewhere knows these things. Specifically pointing out something is "surveillance-powered" without context is agenda-driven.

I agree, but we have to be careful not to give a pass to our industry to do whatever they want.

And it isn’t necessarily agenda-driven by TechCrunch. As you said, they are ads/analytics based. So it follows that they will produce content that gets maximum eyeballs.

surveiled

Your cell phone and computer are also an always-on listening devices, but we don't call Apple "surveillance powered".

We should call everything that is constantly listening to us "surveillance powered". Anything that is recorded can be abused in the future.

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