Alexa, what are you doing with kids' data?

While protecting the kids would be nice, it results in a large inconsistency to apply it here, given the level of control we allow parents to have over their kids in many areas. For example, parents have near-complete jurisdiction over the diet of their children and can therefore cause significant health issues at their own discretion (or just due to lack of nutritional knowledge). This is (at least at the current moment) a significantly larger issue for kids than if Amazon has personal data on them or not. Accordingly, it seems strange for us to want the government to intervene with respect to data on children, but not with respect to a child's diet.

> If adults don't understand the technology and kids don't consent, isn't that exactly a scenario where we should at least protect the children, given that its widely accepted in most countries that children can't actually enter commercial relationships on their own?

Or more accurately kids can't consent. This is the argument I've used for my kids against family members who had a hard time understanding not plastering them on social media. Basically we told everyone in the family that our kids images, names, DoB, whereabouts and anything else about them should not be posted in any form or fashion. I'd then go on to position it from my kids point of view: what if they don't consent later in life and those posts somehow impact them negatively at that time? Do you [family member] want to take on that you were the only one to choose for them? I am their custodian and doing my due diligence to keep their digital footprint to a minimum until they have the capacity to make those choices on their own behalf. I feel like there are lawsuits all around this that will be cropping up in the next decade which may shy people away from the unfiltered social media perspective many run with today.

Id adults don't understand the tech, they can't consent either. It's a scenario where we should be protecting everybody.

Pushing for children protection first would not be wrong, but would be counter productive.

Especially minors.

I am.

I guess it wasn't clear that I was also implying there may be something wrong when one of the largest companies in the world can sell ?? number of devices aimed specifically at children, without this regulation being enforced/checked for ?? amount of time.

Either enforcement, or regulation failed. I think we've got a lot of mechanisms for enforcement, as this article is bringing light to the necessity of.

So, perhaps the aforementioned "regulation" is not enough, and properly written regulation that can be enforced with some regularity and haste is required considering this is for children.

I mentioned the second point because it appeared, to me anyway, that this was a separate service aimed specifically at the children's device; separate from my already assessed knowledge of Amazon, AWS, Prime, and their other affiliated (and paid) offerings.

My Google Home Mini (that I got for Christmas) sits unplugged but it is a very good speaker even if I turn off the mic.

If I can just get myself to accept that the mic is off when I have turned it off I might actually start using it more.

BTW: Has anyone verified this?

The fruit basket is the weirdest one. WTF could it be? Do you have any link to where you can get one, or any more information on it? Sounds like a fun writeup.

Maybe it’s time for some viral explainer videos on Facebook.

Does it make it more legal for those companies to spy on those kids?

It shouldn't be. At this point you need a really good reason to assume a company isn't storing any information it can collect, whether they are monetizing it now or not.

It's been proven the information has value. Unless there's some regulation or contract preventing them from doing so, they're going to collect it in the vast majority of cases. Whether they already made money on a service getting the information is irrelevant.

I find the best way to convey to people the reason why these smart speakers and devices are so cheap, and seem to be on sale almost perpetually.

A growing number of smart devices are being sold at below-cost, using a combination of data harvesting, ads and a proprietary app/skills store to make a profit for the maker after the sale.

It's necessary to educate people that while they're purchasing* the hardware, they're receiving the service "for free" (AKA, supported by ads in some way, shape, or form) via the hardware.

*purchasing may not even be fully accurate here since loads of companies are starting to treat it like a pay-once licensing fee allowing you to use hardware that they own in perpetuity or until that hardware is no longer supported by the manufacturer.

Kind of confuses me when people say Apple isn't collecting your data.

Are these people unaware or fanboys?

That’s true. I’m still having trouble internalizing that my multi-hundred-dollar Bose headphones are spying on me. I’ve yet to delete the app, though I should.

> It's really that simple.

No, it isn’t. If people buy these products knowing the terms of the trade, that’s one thing. But a lot of people don’t. This is why we have disclosure regulations.

Until the alternatives disappear.

You know how FB can create shadow profiles of people that have never had an FB account but were tagged on photos or comments? Same principle applies.

You may not buy an Alexa speaker, but if you're in the room having a conversation with someone who does, your name and personal information could leak as well. Same goes if the conversation was on a phone loudspeaker.

The voice data would have limited usability in its present state, but as Alexa's network effects improve, the signal to noise ratio will only get better.

Of course "less is more" for everyone else. That's been the mantra of every group of people restricting rights to individuals. "Don't play video games. It'll make you violent" ; "You can't watch that movie. It'll make you a rapist" ; "Don't read that book. It'll turn you into a traitor"

No, thanks. I had the Internet from the time I was 10. It made me the capable person I am, gave me the incredible career I have today, and showed me all the things I could become. Horizons were crossed that I never dreamed possible. Many of the people I knew never saw these things and they would kill to have my life. I am absolutely committed to a free and open Internet.

Of course, the puritans are against this. The puritans are establishmentarians and authoritarians. You can never do anything because they're protecting you. Oh so very precious, the protection. No, enough with the shackles. The next generation has a right to grow without you cutting their legs out from under them.