{"id":6689,"date":"2023-09-12T05:45:49","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T00:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/is-alexa-secretly-listening-to-your-private-conversations\/"},"modified":"2023-09-12T05:45:49","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T00:15:49","slug":"is-alexa-secretly-listening-to-your-private-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/is-alexa-secretly-listening-to-your-private-conversations\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Alexa secretly listening to your private conversations?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Do you ever wonder if your smart devices are spying on you and sending your data to advertisers? If so, you are not alone. Many people have reported experiences of seeing ads related to their private discussions on social media or other platforms. Is this really happening, or is it just a coincidence?<\/p>\n

Well, let’s start with an email we received from Nena of Orange Park, Florida, who shares her thought-provoking experience with her smartphone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I am sure our phones are listening. I live in the same town as my parents. My 102-year-old grandpa is in an assisted living facility. My father and my aunt take him to the doctors and visit him frequently. My aunt planned a vacation. My grandfather was coming down with pneumonia.<\/i><\/p>\n

I went over to my parents on a Saturday morning. We sat in the living room as my father updated me on the situation with my grandfather. He was telling me my aunt requested if he passed while she was on vacation if the funeral home could accept him to go ahead and schedule his cremation. He no longer wants to be buried. All we did was sit around and talk.<\/i><\/p>\n

The next day my mom calls me. <\/i>She logged into Facebook<\/i>…\u00a0and now she is being targeted by ads for cremation. Her comment to me was “that\u2019s weird- this is the first time ever I have received ads regarding cremation.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Microphone access to Facebook is off. Out of curiosity I checked all of our phones. In the room where we spoke we each had our phones and there was an Alexa device.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

What I think? This is not the 1st time something like this has happened. Someone is definitely listening!!” \u00a0\u2014 Thank you, Nena<\/i><\/p>\n

We’ve heard many stories like this one of people who say their phones or other devices are listening in, and the truth is, they are.<\/p>\n

In Nena\u2019s case, the thing that might have influenced the ads that her mother saw was likely her daughter’s Alexa device. Alexa devices use voice data from interactions with customers to provide relevant ads on Amazon or other sites where Amazon places ads. It\u2019s possible that one family member asked Alexa a related question.<\/p>\n

The frustrating part about this is when our devices start sending us targeted ads after eavesdropping on those conversations they were not needed for, which is just what happened to Nena’s family with their Alexa device.<\/p>\n

Researchers from the University of Washington, University of California-Davis, University of California-Irvine and Northeastern University\u00a0concluded that Amazon and third parties collect data from your interactions with Alexa through Echo smart speakers and share it with as many as 41 advertising partners.<\/p>\n

Here are some steps you can take to restrict how often your Alexa devices are listening in.<\/p>\n

CLICK TO GET KURT\u2019S FREE CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER WITH SECURITY ALERTS, QUICK TIPS, TECH REVIEWS AND EASY HOW-TO\u2019S TO MAKE YOU SMARTER<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A woman sets up her Amazon Alexa device.<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

MORE: IS FACEBOOK LISTENING TO YOU?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Switch off Alexa’s recording feature<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amazon did not always allow customers to switch off the recording feature of the Alexa devices. However, after numerous complaints from customers with concerns that their privacy was being compromised, they made the adjustments so that users could turn off their recording devices if they wished to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

8 WAYS TO KEEP SOMEONE YOU KNOW WHO LIVES ALONE PROTECTED<\/strong><\/p>\n

How to stop your Alexa device from recording you at all times<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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  • Open the Alexa app<\/strong> on your smartphone<\/li>\n
  • Tap on the More button<\/strong> in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen<\/li>\n
  • Tap Settings<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Select Alexa Privacy<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Tap Manage Your Alexa Data<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Select “Choose How Long To Save Recordings”<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Select Don\u2019t Save Recordings<\/strong> and select Confirm,\u00a0<\/strong>then hit Confirm<\/strong> again<\/li>\n
  • Then scroll down to “Help Improve Alexa”<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Next to “Use of Voice Recordings”<\/strong> \u2013 make sure it is toggled off<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    MORE: HOW YOUR PASSCODES COULD BE STOLEN BY AI LISTENING TO YOUR KEYSTROKES<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Mute Alexa<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Another way to stop Alexa from listening is by muting the device to disable its microphone.<\/p>\n

    TEN TELLTALE SIGNS THAT SOMEONE HAS STOLEN YOUR IDENTITY<\/strong><\/p>\n

    How to disable Alexa’s microphone<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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    • Press down on the microphone button<\/strong> on your Alexa device<\/li>\n
    • Once the light is red<\/strong>, then Alexa is no longer listening<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Those steps are intended to help you temporarily disable Alexa\u2019s microphone on your device. This means that Alexa will not be about to hear or respond to voice commands until you enable the microphone again.<\/p>\n

      10 AMAZING TRICKS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR AMAZON KINDLE<\/strong><\/p>\n

      How to enable Alexa’s microphone<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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      • Press down on the microphone button on your Alexa device again<\/li>\n
      • Once the light is blue, then Alexa is ready to listen and respond<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        GET SECURITY ALERTS WITH THE FREE CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER – CLICK HERE<\/strong><\/p>\n

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        One option to keep Alexa from listening in is by turning on the mute button.<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

        MORE: GENIUS HIDDEN HACK TO STOP SOMEONE FROM SNOOPING ON YOUR IPHONE MESSAGES<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Delete your voice history from Alexa<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Alexa also keeps a history of voice recordings that you can delete if you don’t want the device to have a record of them.<\/p>\n

        HOW THIS ROBOT JANITOR IS CLEANING TOILETS AND DOING THE DIRTY WORK<\/strong><\/p>\n

        How to delete your voice history from Alexa<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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        • Open your Alexa app<\/strong><\/li>\n
        • Tap on the More button<\/strong> in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen<\/li>\n
        • Tap Settings<\/strong><\/li>\n
        • Select Alexa Privacy\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n
        • Tap Manage Your Alexa Data\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n
        • Under Voice Recordings<\/strong>, toggle off Enable deletion by voice<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          MORE: BEST WAYS TO KEEP SNOOPS OUT OF YOUR COMPUTER<\/strong><\/p>\n

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          You can delete your voice history from Alexa.<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

          MORE: HOW TO MAKE YOUR DEVICES IMPOSSIBLE TO SNOOP ON WITH A PRIVACY SCREEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Kurt’s key takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Everyone has a right to privacy, especially in conversations in your home. As convenient as it can be to have an Alexa device, you should always be careful and protect your private spaces if you have one. These steps should help to decrease the amount your Alexa device will be able to hear from you, and hopefully, Amazon will continue to update its software to further enhance privacy features in the future.<\/p>\n

          Do you think Amazon could be doing more to protect users’ privacy? What privacy features would you like to see built into Alexa devices? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com\/Contact.<\/strong><\/p>\n

          CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

          For more of my tech tips & security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com\/Newsletter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

          ARE YOU PROTECTED? SEE THE 2023 BEST ANTIVIRUS PROTECTION WINNERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Copyright 2023 CyberGuy.com.\u00a0All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n

          <\/p>\n

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          Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt\u2019s CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          [ad_1] Do you ever wonder if your smart devices are spying on you and sending your data to advertisers? If so, you are not alone. Many people have reported experiences of seeing ads related to their private discussions on social media or other platforms. Is this really happening, or is it just a coincidence? Well, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}