How Tech Titans Listen In On Voice Recordings

VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS COMPLICATE THE PRIVACY ISSUE

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

When you speak to a virtual assistant on your mobile device, wearable, computer or smart speaker, it’s easy to assume that it’s a truly private conversation between just you and the assistant. However, numerous revelations in recent weeks and months will, for many people, have cast significant doubt on that theory. Many big-name tech companies have been listening in, albeit reportedly only in a select few, carefully justified instances. Do we have reason to be worried?

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For years, user privacy has been a major issue in the tech sphere. This has undoubtedly been exacerbated by the Cambridge Analytica scandal that engulfed Facebook last year and saw the social media company come under fire for its handling of user data. It’s little wonder that in April, Mark Zuckerberg sought to draw a line under the whole sorry episode by declaring that “the future is private”. Meanwhile, Apple has insisted: “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone”.

Naturally, upholding praise for user privacy should also mean upholding user privacy itself. However, tech titans have not always succeeded in suitably balancing that particular priority with carrying out the data analysis they require to hone their AI efforts and, in this way, keep them competitive. This year alone, a series of reports have centered on how Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple have listened in on users – with occasionally dubious implications for these users’ privacy.

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