Ex-Amazon exec says he used to unplug Alexa during private conversations

We all joke about how Alexa or Siri is always listening and is creeping on everything you say. Well now there might be something to it.

A former Amazon executive has admitted to switching off Alexa anytime he wants to have a private conversation.

Robert Frederick, formerly a manager at Amazon Web Services, told BBC's Panorama program that he does not want staff at his previous employer listening in to his "private moments" via their ubiquitous Echo smart speaker.

"I turn off my Alexa when I know for a fact that the conversation that I'm going to have, or whenever I just want to have a private moment," he revealed. "I don't want certain conversations to be heard by humans."

Another former employee, James Marcus, who worked as a senior editor for the company for five years, also told the investigative program: "I simply hate the idea of voluntarily putting a bug into my living room, and knowing that some schmo in Seattle might be listening to it on a headset."


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