To be fair, everybody who has Alexa already has a phone constantly with them everywhere. So it's just one extra microphone, not something completely different.
Two wrongs don't make a right, and I make sure to disable all voice commands from my smartphone (which is admittedly useless if my device is compromised because I'd need a hardware killswitch, but it's a start). On the other hand those assistants' whole purpose is to work with voice controls, they're useless without them.
It's not completely different but it's far from completely the same in my opinion.
A smartphone is more transparent than a device explicitly designed and advertised to record audio in entire rooms? Or did you mean the smartphones signal more system status?
In my experience a lot of people have privacy concerns over the speakers, and underestimate the smartphone.
I meant that security provisions for smartphones are way better than for Alexa type devices.
People do underestimate the smartphone, but I feel the problem with smart speakers is even more pronounced. I mean, voice is the primary interface for a smart speaker.
What kind of Android do you have? Are you sure you went through all the settings?
And, still, I can install LineageOS or other privacy-respecting systems on my phone. We don't have any custom firmware for an Echo or Alexa yet (to the best of my knowledge.)
The number of phones actually supported by lineageOS is a rounding error, unless you count unofficial incomplete builds by random untrusted people on some forum.
Almost none of my family members understand the implications of the voice assistant let alone know how to turn it off. You’re a techy type and are thinking my uncles or grandparents operate at your level.
What fraction of iPhone users do you think have turned off Siri? Based on my circle, it's zero. Android seems a bit more complicated because registration for Samsung or Amazon might be decoupled from device setup, but I'd imagine those are mostly turned on. So most people do have an always or nearly always on microphone in their pocket as the post higher up was trying to point out.
Anecdata, but most of my friends that have iPhones has Siri enabled indeed, but the minority that is aware of the "Hey Siri" feature (the only thing that needs an always-on mic) has not enabled it. Most of them find it creepy.
Astro-turfing for what? I guess this falls into the "uneducated" category. From my apparently uneducated perspective, phones need to be a concern if you're worried about your voice and activities being recorded. Most users have no idea that, for example, Google Assistant is always listening on Pixel.
Siri is not enabled by default, they use a different approach to get users to opt in. Step 8: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202033 has a much bigger button to enable Siri, but users are given a choice and skipping Siri takes less time so it’s easier if you’re not going to use it.
If you choose to disable Google Assistant completely, follow these steps:
Open the Google app and select Menu (the three bars)
go to Settings
Google Assistant section click Settings > Phone and disable the Assistant option
I have a custom domain and disabled it for my family:
Switch off Google Assistant (for entire custom domain)
Click Search and Assistant. Tip: Scroll to see all services.
...
Control who uses Search and Assistant in your organization
At the left, select the organizational unit.
Select On or Off.
To keep the service turned on or off even when the service is turned on or off for the parent organizational unit, click Override.
That's the thing - smartphones are surveillance devices as well, but their utility makes them a necessity. It's possible to argue that you'd submit to the surveillance if you're getting all that you get from a smartphone.
But a smart speaker just plays some music and tells you the weather. It's not nearly enough utility to be worth the privacy risks.
To you maybe, but not for everyone. I get lots of utility out of my Echo (alarms, music, checking the weather, controlling lights, etc.) that I'm fine with some random Amazon contractor listening to my commands to Alexa.
And if you are worried about the companies lying about not recording 24/7 why do you trust them to disable the recording done by assistants on your phone?
