Urgent warning issued to Amazon Alexa owners following privacy change one expert says is ‘absolutely unforgivable’.
Amazon is removing a key privacy feature from its Echo smart speakers.
The tech giant is making a big change to how its virtual assistant smart speakers handle your voice recordings locally.
Starting 28 March, a privacy setting called 'Do Not Send Voice Recordings' will be removed from several Echo devices.
This means audio recordings of commands you give an Echo will be sent to the company cloud to be processed there instead of being kept solely on the device.
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The affected devices include the Echo Dot (4th Gen), Echo Show 10 and Echo Show 15.
Amazon emailed users about the change, saying that once it kicks in, if you have the 'Don’t Save Recordings' setting on, your voice ID (which lets Alexa recognise different users) won’t work.
"Starting on March 28th, your voice recordings will be sent to and processed in the cloud, and they will be deleted after Alexa processes your requests," the email reads.
"Any previously saved voice recordings will also be deleted."
It added: "If your voice recordings setting is updated to “Don’t save recordings,” voice ID will not work and you will not be able to create a voice ID for individual users to access more personalised features."
Amazon also noted that Alexa voice requests will still be 'encrypted in transit to Amazon’s secure cloud, which was designed with layers of security protections to keep customer information safe.'
According to Jeff Bezos' company, customers will still be able to manage their privacy settings by 'visiting the Alexa Privacy dashboard online or navigating to More > Alexa Privacy in the Alexa app.’
Allegedly, fewer than 0.03% of Echo owners use the ‘Do Not Send Voice Recordings’ feature.
The change follows Amazon's recent announcement of its new AI-powered version of Alexa called Alexa+. It’s designed to be smarter, recognise voices better and run on more advanced tech.
The increased processing power required for Alexa+ is why the privacy function is being pulled.
Alexa+ is only available on subscription or to those who pay Amazon’s Prime membership programme.
However, tech expert and digital rights blogger Cory Doctorow called the privacy downgrade 'absolutely unforgivable.'
He reminded people that Amazon has previously claimed to delete recordings but admitted in 2019 that workers had listened to them 'to improve the assistants’ understanding of human speech.'
Doctorow added: "Even by Amazon standards, this is extraordinarily sleazy."
Amazon later explained that the decision to remove the privacy feature is part of its effort to better support 'generative AI experiences,' which depend on the processing power of Amazon’s secure cloud to function properly.
The company added: "The Alexa experience is designed to protect our customers’ privacy and keep their data secure, and that’s not changing.
"Customers can continue to choose from a robust set of tools and controls, including the option to not save their voice recordings at all. We’ll continue learning from customer feedback, and building privacy features on their behalf."