Amazon admits it stores your Alexa conversations (although you can delete them)
Amazon and its voice assistant Alexa have been in the spotlight for a few months on the subject of privacy. U.S. Senator Chris Coons sent a letter to the company asking for explanations about the company's practices, and the answer has already arrived: Amazon keeps some data indefinitely and shares it with third parties. Surprised?
Last April it was discovered that thousands of Amazon employees had listened to recordings of users of Alexa. Not only that, but they have access to user data, such as their location. Faced with this scandal, U.S. Senator Chris Coons decided to send a letter to Amazon to clarify exactly what Amazon's privacy policy is.
Brian Huseman, Amazon's vice president of public policy, has been in charge of shedding some light on the issue, even if the answer is not what we hoped for. The executive admits that Amazon stores voice recordings and transcripts indefinitely by default, although users may choose to delete them.
Despite this, he confesses that some of the conversations, even though deleted by the user, have not been deleted from his records. To fix this bug, work is underway on a system that can ensure the permanent deletion of these conversations.
On the other hand, they cannot guarantee that, after a deletion order, it will also be effective for third parties, such as when ordering a Uber service: the developers of these companies can keep a record of all interactions themselves.
Do these statements surprise you?
Source: The Verge
No surprise. And not the text transcriptions, just the recordings.