Police Want Your Smart Speaker–Here's Why | Hacker News Reader

Police Want Your Smart Speaker–Here's Why

wired.com

15 pointsedward8 comments

Solution: Make your own "smart" electronics if you desperately feel the need for a light bulb that can talk to your toaster...

Related, I see the user redis_mlc posted a very insightful comment about how the American court system fucks over the defendant for the government every time, and it's "dead" for some reason. I suggest everyone turn on show dead comments because usually they are the most helpful the majority of the time. When information is being suppressed you know it's good.

> Consider a potential suspect who can’t prove where they were at 11 pm on a Thursday, because they live alone.

Bad for those that don't have speakers as it can develop in a direction that not using mainly useless gadgets as suspect.

People involved in future crime: Victim, supect, Amazon, Google...

Not having Alexa making you a suspect has a clear 1984 vibe to it.

Unfortunately this not all fiction, it is already happening for social media. Some countries require you to turn over your social media accounts at the border. If you don't produce a Facebook/Instagram/Twitter account you are immediately a suspect.

>> Consider a potential suspect who can’t prove where they were at 11 pm on a Thursday, because they live alone.

And they're fast asleep because 11 pm is not the time to be awake for them. How will the speaker save them? By recording snoring noises and storing that?

Why not have your own closed circuit home surveillance system that you entirely control and is not connected to a cloud that you do not control?

Fortunately for most, the legal system in the United States does not (usually) require us to prove innocence.

Theoretically, but that is not the reality I think. Imagine having such a speaker but it was turned off on the day you have no alibi. Suspicious?

Certainly not enough to convict someone, but there could be other unfortunate factors.

If you ask for a lawyer immediately and don't say anything else, then police must prove your guilt.

However, if you allow questioning to proceed, you cannot always stop the questioning in the middle with the same rights as above.

Also, in the US, improperly obtained evidence is seldom thrown out of court for some reason. Arguing that a warrant wasn't obtained doesn't always work.

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