Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?
His new movie is playing in a theater near you.’”
In a statement, Amazon said the company took “privacy seriously” and did “not use customers’ voice recordings for targeted advertising.” Amazon said
that it filed “a number of forward-looking patent applications that explore the full possibilities of new technology,” and that they “take multiple years to receive and do not necessarily reflect current developments to products and services.”
Google said it did not “use raw audio to extrapolate moods, medical conditions or demographic information.” The company added, “All devices
that come with the Google Assistant, including Google Home, are designed with user privacy in mind.”
Tech companies apply for a dizzying number of patents every year, many of which are never used and are years from even being possible.
Still, Jamie Court, the president of Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit advocacy group in Santa Monica, Calif., which published a study of some of the patent applications in December, said, “When you read parts of the applications, it’s really clear
that this is spyware and a surveillance system meant to serve you up to advertisers.”
The companies, Mr. Court added, are “basically going to be finding out what our home life is like in qualitative ways.”
Google called Consumer Watchdog’s claims “unfounded,”
and said, “Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications.”
A recent Gallup poll found that 22 percent of Americans used devices like Google Home or Amazon Echo.