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Smart speakers are a must for anyone looking to create a voice-enabled home – from listening to music and podcasts to controlling your latest connected gadgets, the devices have become a household staple.
So much so that more than 30 million were shipped worldwide in the first three months of 2022, with Amazon leading the way with about a third of them using its Alexa devices.
However VPNOverview (opens in new tab) has uncovered disturbing research indicating that your smart speaker is collecting more data about you than you may have initially realized.
Smart speakers are always listening
Smart speakers are always listening to you (unless you disable that functionality, which sort of defeats the point), and they’re generally able to keep recordings or transcripts of what you said to help developers make them even more intuitive, but at what cost?
While Amazon, Google, and Apple all make promises of minimal data collection and a high level of security, many users will have enabled third-party integrations that let them interact with a number of services, from connected cars to food ordering apps and just about everything in between.
VPNOverview says that “some of these third-party skills aren’t thoroughly moderated,” which can open a gateway for hackers, risking various leaks and hacks. Activate one VPN helps to mitigate these risks to some extent.
Another concern of the company is that some smart speakers can make online purchases directly on the device. It recommends setting up two-factor authentication (2FA) to authorize these transactions, but for many that again defeats the point of having an enabled device in their home.
In the end, in most use cases, customers seem to value convenience over privacy, making many of the measures companies take almost useless.
Google says it doesn’t keep audio recordings on its servers by default. Amazon says its users can view and delete their voice recordings and transcripts stored securely in the cloud. Finally, Apple says it only retains the minimum data required for six months. We reached out to all three companies for advice on what users can do to best protect their data when using smart speakers.
Apple led us to her HomePod Privacy and Security (opens in new tab) web page, Amazon told us to view the explanation page (opens in new tab) and FAQ page (opens in new tab)and Google directed us to its privacy information page (opens in new tab) and guide of actionable steps users can take (opens in new tab).
