Even by Amazon standards, this is extraordinarily sleazy: from Mar 28, each Amazon Echo device will cease processing audio on-device and instead upload all the audio it captures to Amazon's cloud for processing, even if you have previously opted out of cloud-based processing:
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/15/altering-the-deal/#telescreen
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@pluralistic Remember when people found out this was already happening years ago? Then Amazon’s execs said “oops we didn’t mean to!”
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/01/1179381126/amazon-alexa-ring-settlement
There is a fix though. Throw it into a dumpster.