Originally Posted by Smokescreen
Simple test would be have a conversation about a random item you might buy like tennis racquets around the Alexa device but don't address the device. Then go look at your Amazon suggestions. If it has tennis racquets in the list...its listening.
About two months ago I had this conversation with some co-workers and it did exactly that. The code word was "travel agent". I ended up with several travel agency adds on my Facebook wall about a day later.
I have no doubt these devices are listening to everything 24/7. Most recently, my wife and I were walking in to a restaurant near CVG (we live right under the flight path) and a 747 freighter was on approach, super low as would be expected as close as we were to the airport. We were both watching it and she said "Have we ever flown on a 747? I cant remember" and I said yes, back in the '90's a few times and told her when and where. She then said "I cant remember what the inside of a 747 even looks like" and she asked me about the seating and various other things.
About 10 minutes later, we had been seated and as we were looking over our menus, I had picked out what I wanted, and as usual she was taking forever to decide what to have for lunch. So I whipped out my phone while she decided, and I noticed I had a Facebook notification...I mumbled "You got to be kidding me, those creeps". My wife looked up and said 'What? Whats wrong?"
A "Recommended for You" article on, well take a wild guess... >>> "Take an Interactive Tour Inside a KLM 747! Click here"
Most of my Facebook feed is aviation and/or history related pages, and maybe this was a coincidence. I highly doubt it.
Yea I clicked it, I recognized the site and knew it wasnt some click bait virus farm. Its actually a pretty good site, and the 747 tour was neat as you could click all around, go upstairs, into the cockpit, etc. Yup, they got me.
I dont mind targeted adds, after all we get bombarded all day long, why get bombarded by stuff I have no interest in. On the other hand, I hate being listened to and electronically stalked and having my privacy invaded. I have no interest in one of these Alexa devices or anything similar, apparently I'm already stalked enough.