[German]The Amazon Echo smart speaker can also recognize voice commands. There are now reports that the device will send everything spoken to Amazon servers from March 28, 2025. This is said to have been announced to owners in the USA by email from Amazon. The owners of these devices have therefore effectively bought a surveillance device made by Amazon.
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Amazon Echo
Amazon Echo is a smart speaker and the front end to the Alexa voice assistant from the US company Amazon. The device accesses various proprietary and third-party services. These services are known as skills.
The device has been sold in the United States since June 23, 2015 and in Germany since October 26, 2016. There are now various Echo models. The voice assistance business is problematic for Amazon, as it generates losses of over five billion US dollars per year.
Previous mode of operation
The devices are designed in such a way that they first process the voice internally in standby mode and wait for an activation word. The actual voice control is initiated by means of spoken activation words such as Alexa, Echo, Amazon or computer or by pressing the action button on the top of the device. The device then transmits the words spoken in the room via the Internet to Amazon servers, where the commands are implemented. The device must be connected to the Internet via a WLAN.
The device indicates the individual phases between standby, speech recognition and processing via a colored light ring. If several devices are operated within acoustic range, speech recognition takes place on the device closest to the user. This technology is known as Echo Spatial Perception.
Voice control can also be switched off completely using a button. This has a direct effect on the seven built-in microphones, i.e. without any further intervention by the manufacturer. Voice transmission switched off in this way is signaled by red lights.
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Change from March 28, 2025
Via the following tweet, I came across the report Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28 by ArsTechnica, which announces a change.
ArsTechnica has already expressed concern that privacy is falling by the wayside after Amazon announced plans for a generative AI version of Alexa. With the introduction of Alexa+ on Amazon Echo devices, which may be rolled out in the coming weeks, it appears that users will have to make concessions on privacy in order to maximize the use of the AI voice assistant and retain the functionality of already purchased devices.
ArsTechnica quotes from an email sent to customers in which Amazon stated that Echo users can no longer set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and thus avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon's cloud.
Amazon has apparently sent the email to users who have activated the "Do not send voice recordings" option on their Echo, writes ArsTechnica. From March 28, 2025, the recordings of all commands recorded by Alexa with the microphones in Echo speakers and smart displays will be automatically sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud.
Amazon's reasoning for this is that it will continue to expand Alexa's capabilities with generative AI functions that rely on the processing power of Amazon's secure cloud. It has therefore decided to no longer support this function for local evaluation of voice commands.
According to ArsTechnica, one of the most advertised features of Alexa+ is the enhanced ability to recognize who is speaking to Alexa. The function is known as Alexa Voice ID. In favor of this feature, Amazon is eliminating a privacy-focused ability for all Echo users to evaluate voice input locally.
This also applies to devices whose owners are not interested in the subscription-based version of Alexa, or want to use Alexa+ but are not interested in recognizing different voices. Amazon assures us that everything is encrypted and secure. But who wants a bug in their house that listens in on everything? Amazon has also attracted attention in the past due to data leaks.
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