Amazon is removing a key privacy feature from its Echo smart speakers that one tech expert has called ‘absolutely unforgivable’.
Some devices can process voice requests locally – ‘on-device’ – so all recordings of your commands are kept within your home.
But the feature, called ‘Do Not Send Voice Recordings’, will be removed from Echos powered by Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa from March 28.
Now audio recordings of commands you give an Echo will be sent to the company cloud to be processed there.
The update comes from an email Amazon sent to Echo owners who have opted out of sending recordings out to the company.
The change impacts three popular devices: the Echo Dot (4th Gen), Echo Show 10 and Echo Show 15.
On the cutoff date, if users have it enabled, they will automatically have the updated ‘Don’t Save Recordings’ setting that prevents access to voice ID.
Any previously saved voice recordings will also be deleted.
Amazon said in the email: ‘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,
‘Any previously saved voice recordings will also be deleted.
‘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.’
It added: ‘Alexa voice requests are always encrypted in transit to Amazon’s secure cloud, which was designed with layers of security protections to keep customer information safe.
‘Customers can continue to choose from a robust set of controls by visiting the Alexa Privacy dashboard online or navigating to More > Alexa Privacy in the Alexa app.’
Amazon says that less than 0.03% of Echo owners use the ‘Do Not Send Voice Recordings’ feature.
Amazon announced last month that Alexa will have a new brain powered by generative artificial intelligence, called Alexa+, which will be able to recognise different voices.
Amazon said the increased processing power required for Alexa+ is why the privacy function, only available in the US to users with an Echo set to English, is being scrapped.
Alexa+ is only available on subscription or to those who pay Amazon’s Prime membership programme.
The removal of the privacy function impacts all users, regardless of whether they have a subscription or want to use Alexa+ but not its ability to make out different people, tech magazine Ars Technica reported.
Cory Doctorow, a blogger and digital rights management expert, said in a post that scrapping the privacy setting was ‘absolutely unforgivable’.
‘Amazon says that the recordings your Echo will send to its datacentres will be deleted as soon as it’s been processed by the AI servers. Amazon’s made these claims before, and they were lies,’ he wrote.
Amazon admitted in 2019 that workers have listened to voice recordings from Alexa to improve the assistants’ understanding of human speech.
Doctorow added: ‘Even by Amazon standards, this is extraordinarily sleazy.’
On Reddit, Echo owners agreed and expressed worries that Amazon would ‘spy’ on them.
‘Great opportunity to discontinue Amazon Alexa!’ one Redditor said.
‘I don’t understand how anyone could buy and support this product? I assume it has been doing this since day one,’ another user wrote.
Amazon told Metro: ‘The Alexa experience is designed to protect our customers’ privacy and keep their data secure, and that’s not changing.
‘We’re focusing on the privacy tools and controls that our customers use most and work well with generative AI experiences that rely on the processing power of Amazon’s secure cloud.
‘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.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Met Police officer spent £300 on Deliveroo and Amazon using dead woman’s card
MORE: Acres of Amazon rainforest trees cut down to build road for climate summit
MORE: Amazon Prime viewers ‘gutted’ as beloved soap gets the axe
