Or maybe you don’t install a data mining spy device in the office?
So keep cell phone in lockers, no smart TVs, and no Alexa or similar devices.
Someone should invent the pocket microwave
They can call it the hot pocket
Sounds dangerous to have anywhere near your groin.
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I thought that’s what they put inside the Galaxy Note 7.
Honestly I wouldn’t be opposed to it
Is it any different than speaking in front of your smartphone?
I don’t own an echo or Google whatever but I’ve definitely mentioned things and then got ads for that thing within the hour/day. Like cat litter when I don’t even own a cat, just mentioned it once for cleaning up spills.
More likely there’s a bunch of data points it can use. Coming within BT range of someone who does have a cat for example. Otherwise all the major smart phone companies would need to be in collision to keep the secret because the battery drain would be so blatant of it was recording, processing, transfering etc.
And all the articles that have said they aren’t recording everything, I guess they would have to be in on it too.
I don’t have a smoking gun for Google advertising based on conversation, but I mentioned in an email (Gmail) that someone I know was going to the Calgary Stampede, and Google Ads flogged Stetson cowboy hats and the Stampede for weeks after that. It was so conspicuous because normally it’s just, “hot singles in your area”, “hot Christian singles in your area?” maybe, “hot Christian moms in your area?” Nowadays it’s like, “grannies near you want to fuck.” FML.
My pastor mentioned a specific verse in his sermon recently. I went to type it in my notes. My phone’s keyboard (Gboard) suggested that specific verse immediately. Not just the book. The chapter and verse numbers, too.
It’s more likely you’re getting those hyper-targeted ads because of location tracking and relationship tracking than because they’re listening. It’s much cheaper and easier than running voice recognition on shitty audio clips from a mic in your pocket, and honestly much scarier.
People only ever have anecdotes to support the claim that tech companies are listening in on their conversations, but these companies openly admit to targeting ads based on your location data and specifically who you’ve been associating with.
It’s more likely that others in your congregation searched for that verse, so it was suggested to you based on your proximity to others who already searched for it.
from a mic in your pocket
It was in my hand. I was taking notes on it. So I doubt the audio was all that bad. My pastor also uses a mic, so his voice is not too quiet for a phone to pick it up.
because of location tracking and relationship tracking
I also find this unlikely because of how specific it got. It got the chapter and verse correct. The only input it got from me was my beginning to type out the name of the book of the Bible.
It’s more likely that others in your congregation searched for that verse, so it was suggested to you based on your proximity to others who already searched for it.
While that’s possible, I’m not sure it’d work so quickly. I typed the reference in my note-taking app literally as soon as my pastor said it.
I don’t even get “hot singles in your area” anymore.
Where did I go wrong?
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I don’t know about you, but I generally turn my phone off completely when I’m at a doctor or hospital, as per the rules they have posted in the lobby asking me to do so.
Get out of here with your reasoning. It’s more fun to feign outrage because it gives me an opportunity to feel smart. If you start to invalidate my superiority by pointing out how arbitrary and dramatic my response is then I’m going to downvote you.
True, but I shit myself. Trusted a fart and full on shit my pants.
If the patient’s name is Alexa, you’re gonna have a bad time
If this is a medical facility, I’d never trust them ever again if I saw an echo there.
Dentist office I went to has a private room with an Echo, they use it to switch playlists without having to touch anything, I guess. Figure they didn’t really think it through…
But yeah I was a bit uncomfortable with that. Not that anything private was discussed, I simply had a cavity filled. They’re excellent dentists tho, best I’ve ever seen, so I won’t be going elsewhere.
Maybe mention the potential privacy issue if they’re still using echo on your next visit. They might’ve not aware of it.
In my experience with “mentioning the potential privacy issue” people are aware, it’s just an awkward conversation that they’d prefer not to have.
Imagine being a receptionist at a dentists office and some whackadoodle rolls in to the waiting room on their electric scooter, and loudly exclaims… “are you aware that you and all of the staff here are absolutely completely 100% butt naked under your clothes and hosiery? It’s unhygienic, unsanitary, non-inclusive, and completely unsatisfactory. I just thought you should know and perhaps talk it over with your boss”.
Your reaction to this hypothetical scenario is the reaction you can expect when talking to your dentist about privacy.
No wonder I keep getting advertisements for AAAAAAAAAAAAA no, it’s fine, go ahead, AAAAAAAAAAAAAP mint.
Design your own website with squarespace! You two can own the address whyarentyouflossing.com
Yeah, don’t go looking too hard whenever you’re in a hospital or anything. The number of vulnerabilities I can spot with as little infosec knowledge I have is deeply concerning
Wait until you hear about the listening devices that 90% of people carry around in their pockets everywhere they go.
What? What do they say?
You’re all missing the real kicker here - this sign is only here for the HIPAA auditor. Everyone knows that no one is actually going to mute the thing.
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We’re not all like that. Some of us do really care (a whole lot) about the person, and not just “the patient”. We get eye-rolled and sighed at sometimes because we speak up; but it doesn’t matter because advocating for our patients is one of our top priorities.
Some hospitals have better work-cultures than others, but all of them have at least a few who truly give a damn
That’s cool, but given the majority of the population literally has zero clue on what privacy actually is, or what tech is intentionally doing to destroy it, it’s a lost cause. The healthcare system is one of the worst places for any personal information.
I would like to thank you for maintaining integrity when it is not easy. I know it can be frustrating.
Also muting it probably doesn’t stop it listening, it just stops its response.
No, there is a button to make the Echo stop listening.
Yeah I read the other comments after making mine. However everyone keeps calling it a “physical” button, and I don’t think that’s accurate. It won’t be a physical switch that opens a circuit, it will be a button that operates a transistor that opens the circuit.
Still, I see no good reason to trust the device - especially in a medical setting.
There’s not much difference between a direct switch and a transistor, both will cut the signal and neither is over rideable by software
This is disingenuous at best and incorrect at worst. The mute button on the Echo is just that, a button; it is not a switch. It is software-controlled and pushing it just sends a signal to the microcontroller to take some action. For instance, one action is to turn on the red indicator light; that’s definitely not physically connected to the mute button.
Maybe another response of pushing the button is to disable the transistor used for the microphone, but it’s more likely that it just sets a software flag for the algorithm to stop its processing of the microphone input signal. Regardless of which method it uses, the microcontroller could undoubtedly just decide to revert that and listen in, either disabling or not disabling the red light at the same time.
But I personally don’t think it listens in when muted. I don’t think it spies on us to target ads based on what we say around it. I’m not worried that the mic mute function doesn’t work as intended.
But I fully understand that it is fully capable of it, technically speaking.
A transistor is controlled by software so yes, it’s absolutely over rideable.
I’m not sure that’s the case. We have one at work and if it thinks you’re calling out to it repeatedly it will say out loud that its mic is off and that you have to enable it.
It might just be the part that listens for “Alexa” but that audio buffer is available to the device and it can do things with it.
I just tried it with mine, it doesn’t react in any way.
We have one at work and if it thinks you’re calling out to it repeatedly it will say out loud that its mic is off and that you have to enable it.
This is the funniest thing I’ve read today (though I’m not sure if it is a joke).
Aww, you actually believe that!
It’s fascinating how people know that these devices break their privacy, yet they keep using them.
Convenience is one of the most addictive drugs.
Some people just don’t care about their privacy and I’m not judging them, you do you!
Professionals should care about their client’s privacy though. That shouldn’t be a debate.
Totally agree with you, i was referring to a private setting!
People that don’t care about their privacy is exactly what makes it so hard to just exist privately. I shouldn’t have to give up my rights because other people don’t care about them
I do judge them. But I would more say that I came to terms with this ugly fact.
They pay to be watched.
Aw yeah
Take as old as time
Maybe just don’t have any big tech surveillance devices in the hospital/clinic/whatever.
Why do they even have an Amazon echo if they know it’s a fucking security risk? If you need a speaker, just get a speaker, not one a spyker (sorry, that was shite)
Maybe the family brought it in…
Friendly reminder to pause your bleeple before you buttlebode your over-driver. You do not want (CCF) cloud confederation forces to scuttle your bodes.
rAmen, brother!
May his noodly appendage touch you.
He boiled for your sins.
But Jeff Benzos is the biggest pharamcist in the world now, so it’s fine
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And by muted they mean pull the plug
And by pull the plug I mean smash it with a fucking hammer
I was going to say. Can you even mute them?
I hate it when acronyms aren’t clearly defined… PHI stands for Protected Health Information.
This is almost certainly in a provider setting, in which all covered employees will have received extensive training detailing what “PHI” stands for.
And the several boxes of exam gloves too no less lol
mutedthrown in the trash where it belongsIoT and smart device security only means your data is protected from unauthorized access. It’s up to the manufacturer, not the user to decide who can get in.
Remember that S in IoT stands for Security!
We’re living in a dystopian future…
Big brother is listening…
