Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28
Amazon is killing a privacy feature to bolster Alexa+, the new subscription assistant.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/everything-you-say-to-your-echo-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-on-march-28/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
@arstechnica enshittification is alive and well
@arstechnica Wow, is that thing gonna learn to cuss in so many ways.
@arstechnica There must be some open-source project to liberate these speakers.
It can be done, but apparently bypassing Alexa's bootloader protections is a nightmare. It has been done on older Alexa devices.
Any #hacker or #2600 types out there that have rooted the newer Alexa's that could offer pointers?
[1] https://danieldb.uk/posts/alexa-2/
[2] https://andygoetz.org/tags/dot/
@partysam @arstechnica It's called a sledgehammer.
@arstechnica time to smash
@DartzIRL @arstechnica they are talking of "everything" not only of "alexa" commands. 1984 anyone?
@arstechnica
Time to pitch that smart speaker into the WEEE pile!
I wonder how much this violates wiretap laws, many of which are state-by-state in the US.
Pretty sure that doesn't apply when you purchase and install the wiretap yourself.
@deirdrebeth @weekend_editor @arstechnica
That wouldn't be a settled legal question. This is new ground AFAIK. In court you would argue that you purchased an assistant, and their wiretapping
A) is buried in TOS and you didn't give consent: and
B) it's illegal anyway and a contract doesn't change that.
Amazon's argument would be your comment, in a nutshell.
It's not clear cut but the first argument is a stronger case and more likely to succeed. Don't comply in advance applies here too.
@weekend_editor @arstechnica it is absolutely illegal in Europe. But: do Americans care? They have FOTUS to protect the Trump-Syndicate criminals and league of extra rich. They act above the law and even said so. So with them the question is how to stop them if not by law.
This is an accessibility breakdown. We have wiretaps for the ability to control our house when we can't.
@deirdrebeth agreed, it’s been a huge accessibility tool for me over the last few years and it’s been frustrating watch them make it worse and worse recently :( there’s really nothing comparable either that can find.
🅻🆄🅴What do you need it to do? A device that replaces this.
@BlueBee @deirdrebeth mostly timers, shopping and todo lists, reminders, calendar stuff, and home automation integration with hass, simultaneously out loud and on a ~10”+ screen with large fonts.
Found this... (Open source echo)
Not saying one should use it, because it's probably complicated, but I might look into how it works and see how hard it is to implement.
@BlueBee @sen @deirdrebeth that looks really interesting, thanks for posting
@BlueBee @sen @deirdrebeth have l you seen this Satellite1 voice assistant, seems to be open source too, looks interesting 
https://youtu.be/RoGTLnAQEOY?si=aO5EGOdkg7fXiVsH
@BlueBee @deirdrebeth That's the same platform that the Home Assistant voice assistant is based on, which meets some of my needs but not all of them currently (and I don't have time for a new Project at the moment). It's pretty neat though!
I'm working on leaning home assistant.
When I understand how to make the local voice assistant work, I will be happy to help.
I've been looking into that too! Help would be welcome. I'm very tech savvy, but have never touched Linux so some of the phrasing seems like a foreign language!
Linux is something I'm fairly good at (just not the programming side), and I've been told I'm pretty good at explaining computer things in ways people understand easier. So, if there's a particular Linux thing you'd like help understanding, I'm happy to help
Mostly I need to set aside a day to just *try* and set up my laptop on Mint. It might be surprisingly easy. Instead I read about how and drive myself nuts coming up with possible issues!
Unless you happen to be in northeast Indiana, US and willing to body double? 
I really will reach out if I come up with real questions though! Thank you!
If you're on one of the platforms I'm willing to use, I can always double a Linux install via voice/video.
An important tip (I don't remember if Mint does this by default):
If you can, you want /home to be it's own partition or it's own drive. It's not required, but it allows you to easily reinstall Linux if you need to without losing your person files, and being able to keep most of your app settings.
Most of your software stores your settings, accounts, etc in folders under /home/$username
If you reinstall without formatting your /home partition, and use the exact same password and username, as you reinstall your programs you'll find your settings and stuff just come back.
The except is your account password for things like email clients.
Our conversation got me going :-) I've downloaded and verified a copy of Cinnamon Mint, I then found that my one large USB stick seems to be broken and none of the others can handle the iso...so on hold until the new one arrives 
@arstechnica boy they are going to really find the questions about the weather and setting of timers to be so fascinating.
@arstechnica I wouldn't trust them ever.
@arstechnica Anyone who buys one of these with any expectation of privacy is a fool. AI Luddites unite!
@arstechnica It’s in the junk!
@arstechnica The wife and I got an echo for Christmas from her little sister. Christmas of 2022. We sent it back.
@arstechnica 1948 George Orwell coined the term televisor for these devices.
You might find this from a well known German hacker club interesting.
https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-longtermismus-der-geist-des-digitalen-kapitalismus#l=eng&t=1680
@arstechnica I would never have any of these things in my house.
@arstechnica
Remember everyone, democracy died in the darkness when Bezos strangled her.
@arstechnica Right, yes, surely, uh-huh, "starting" on 28 March.
@arstechnica thats wild, people thought they had privacy features? LOLOL.
Simple solution ... boycott Amazon ... and not just for that ... for all their other rottenness towards, suppliers and workers too ...
@arstechnica Well, definitely taking the one out of the office 
@arstechnica I’ve never had one, never understood the draw to it in the first place.
@Likewise @arstechnica I'm with you 100%.
Although I admit that I did teach Siri how to turn on my neon Cocktails sign, which is out of reach up on my loft. Occasionally, I'll tell her to do it to impress guests.
@arstechnica Crap. Now Amazon will know when I say "Alexa, weather" every morning. (seriously, that's all I use it for at this point.)
@arstechnica holy shit
@arstechnica starting? Lol
@arstechnica #privacy is now a taboo word. All these corporations want to eliminate it from their T&C's, pretend it does not exist and fuck their consumers. Will they reimburse people who don't agree with their new policy?
@arstechnica How did that product get the name "echo"?
@arstechnica
So bezos has just implemented the largest surveillance system on US citizens we've ever seen.
#amazon and the other #broligarchs are so vile
I don't actually believe this report because I suspect all the smart speakers have been smart mic's all along, constantly recording people despite whatever agreements the company asserted.
Like, #tesla's surveillance tech has meant the company has been doing its own constant societal surveillance for years. Data says with the car, sure, but duhhhh I suspect corporate takes it too.
@arstechnica so 'start a timer' and 'what's the weather'?
@arstechnica Everyone: get rid of your Echo
@arstechnica that's why i use #homeassistant in a vlan without regular internet access.