I meant they're easier to justify in the sense that I see why people don't put much thought into putting a spying device in their pocket, not that I agree with the disregard. Most peoples' friends, family, employers, etc. all expect them to have a cell phone and be available by it. Additionally, the way most people interact with their phones, the spying is much less obvious. They joke about them "always listening", but a lot of people don't understand the privacy concerns of pretty typical internet use, so the fact that the device has more than just a microphone, it appears to be worth it to a more typical consumer than us.

Contrast that with an Alexa, google home, or apple home thing, devices which nobody cares if someone else doesn't own, which most people only see as a microphone and speaker, and whose primary functionality is to always be listening to you. The skepticism is much easier to arise.

I'm not saying the level at which cell phones spy on their users is acceptable or even worth it, just that I see why the average user who isn't conscious of their privacy doesn't regard them with the same concern they do smart speakers.

My mom has one of those Google ones, I hate it.

I mean yeah, but for a lot of people if they ditch their phone they'll also lose their job and possibly relationships they value.

Cell phones spying on people isn't good, but most people are simply not informed about how invasive they are and couldn't make an informed decision if they tried. Pair that with the fact that cell phones are essential for a lot of modern life, and it's not difficult to see why the average person is generally more wary of smart speakers than cell phones.

Yeah, just avoid the oligarchy tech

Also, the home assistant voice solution is still very much in it's starting stage, and way behind where Alexa and similar commercial solutions are

If you think that's wild, just wait until you discover how much they pay for having one they can carry around with them!

I have a bunch in my house. It's a glorified radio all I use it for is:

• Set timer for x minute
• What time is it
• Ask CBC to play radio one Toronto
• What is the weather today

For the convenience I accept the mining they may do.

Lists are also very handy!

If anyone else is wondering, I’ve not found a verbatim quote of the steps but I did see an article that mentioned the consequences. It seems like you will be able to turn this off but it will disable Voice ID:

anyone with their Echo device set to “Don’t save recordings” will see their already-purchased devices’ Voice ID feature bricked. Voice ID enables Alexa to do things like share user-specified calendar events, reminders, music, and more. Previously, Amazon has said that "if you choose not to save any voice recordings, Voice ID may not work." As of March 28, broken Voice ID is a guarantee for people who don't let Amazon store their voice recordings.

That is actually good news to hear. Not completely good on my part for being incorrect about ownership, but once I saw the proposed deal back when it was announced, I immediately added them to the “no I don’t think I will.” list of products I won’t support.

Cheers for the clarification mate

You can get them on Amazon.

So is the internet.

Wait till you find out about the internet and social media (including here).

I agree. Although it’s nearly impossible at this point. Especially with Amazon running a significant portion of the internet with AWS. Each one of us most likely touches an Amazon server multiple times a day, even if we don’t have any Amazon subscriptions.

Please, sir I have a pager

Well played.

The whole damn situation was a trap.

That doesn't matter. You only need to worry about boycotting things within your control, like Amazon shopping and their consumer products. AWS is profitable, but so is Amazon.com.

Buying something at a different store is always a dub even if that store is using AWS on the backend.