Every week, it seems, brings a new revelation about privacy
across some aspect of the digital, social media and e-commerce landscape.
Many of these “revelations” are reported with faux shock by
the mainstream media, as though nobody in their right mind would ever have
suspected such a thing could be true. Until it is suddenly confirmed as being
completely true.
Usually, this might apply to the credulous middle part of
the market. But most of these so-called news scoops should not be a surprise to
anybody with a modicum of intelligence and common sense – whether user or wise non-user.
Certainly, the latest “sensation” this week that – shock,
horror – the tech giants are listening in to any conversation anywhere near
their digital assistant products should fall into this category.
It emerged through Bloomberg reporting that Amazon, Apple
and Google all employ staff who listen to customer voice recordings from their
smart speakers and voice assistant apps.
Leaving aside the fact that it’s quite extraordinary in
itself that employees at all three companies fessed up to this, clearly the
news has the potential to cast a cloud over the entire digital assistant
category with possible implications for e-commerce and digital marketing.
All three companies say voice recordings are occasionally
reviewed to improve speech recognition. But the horrified reaction of some people
and media commentators suggests that many consumers of these services may have
been unaware that tech company employees are potentially with them in the room
all the time.
Amazon's voice recordings are associated with an account
number, the customer's first name and the serial number of the Echo device
used. So positively identifying the people speaking should be pretty easy.
What is more, Bloomberg’s report brought out some very
worrying things, such as the description from one employee of hearing
distressing clips such as a potential sexual assault. However, the employee said
they were told by colleagues that it was not Amazon's job to intervene.
If nothing else, this latest development is evocative of the
critically acclaimed 2007 movie, “The Lives of Others”. Set in a grim 1980s East
Germany, the movie gave dramatic form to the notorious boast of the country’s
secret police the Stasi that it could listen to anybody anytime and anywhere it
chose.
Back then, however, the Stasi needed an expert team of surveillance
vans, lock pickers and, comically, speed plasterers and technicians who could
wire up an apartment in double quick time while its occupants were out at
dinner.
Today, it seems, those being surveilled are happily choosing
to submit to such a system – and paying for the privilege.
Whether they will be as gleeful once the implications of
this week’s news begin to sink in remains to be seen.
What is certain is that all the tech giants have sunk a significant
amount of energy, capital and marketing effort into digital assistants. The
hope is that the products will drive even more online engagement across a
number of areas of media and ecommerce – falling straight through to the bottom
line.
We don’t know yet whether this week’s news will be a
significant roadblock on the way to digital assistant adoption. Or whether it
will be quickly forgotten.
Finally, it is instructive to view the terms and conditions
for Amazon's Alexa service: they state that voice recordings are used to
"answer your questions, fulfil your requests, and improve your experience
and our services". Human reviewers are not explicitly mentioned!
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