My guess is it’s like Siri - the dialogue is processed on a server, not on your device. And machine learning algorithms require training, which means at least some recorded dialogue has to be kept. I can’t see literally everything being kept indefinitely, but I can see a library of audio requests and transcription/keywords being stored to speed up response times.
I blame the media for making people paranoid.
Now change that picture please!
#ALEXAISNOTASPY!
Paranoia isnt totally a bad thing, keeps ya safe an aware.
Excessive paranoia however… how many times do I have to check if the gas stove is OFF before I can leave the damn house lmao… this is actually a thing with me, as well has having to double/triple/quad check to make sure the front door is locked… it sucks…
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I’m paranoid about certain things but not like that.
And yes Miss Constructor Bot Lady, I need to take a nap.
This is the odd thing though - speaking generally about tech here, I’m not an Echo expert. Maybe it’s different in America (and to be fair, what I’ve seen of US Cable News would make me paranoid about literally everything) but I’m concerned about how little attention we seem to be given the massive compromises of privacy and security we’ve made in order to get conveniences. Some of those benefits are really great, but the loss of privacy… I don’t think we talk about it nearly enough.
I almost feel t’s hard to work out if and how much to be ‘paranoid’ about current tech and the surveillance state it brings, because it doesn’t look like a powerful Big Brother coming to threaten us, it’s a helpful assistant who does what she’s told…
I love Amazon recommendations, I’ve found loads of books that way. And Google Maps has kept me safe on holiday. It’s great. But … I suspect that kind of privacy loss has costs, of many different kinds. It’s hard to separate that from the fun.
My current state is maintaining a paranoia which I consider absolutely justified, but not being able to extricate myself from the system I’m worried about either (and not fully wanting to). It’s not really a combination I recommend because it’s rather depressing. Might be easier to just stop worrying and let go.
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Don’t trust apple, they’re a terrible company
Don’t trust Amazon, there’s a very real chance they are at least to an extent “spying” on you
As for Google, well it’s google if you don’t like google use bing
I’ll reiterate what I said earlier here, I’d like to see more companies that can’t access, much less turn over such identifying information in any meaningful way. There are a number of companies that do in fact do this, and I think it’s a good solution to the problem. Yeah though, it’s a genuine issue that doesn’t get much attenion because it feels like a distant rather than immediate threat.
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I agree 100%
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You should all be more worried about the penguin army i’m assembling…
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That’s pretty much how I deal with it.
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I’m very wary about recommending any particular brands here, but I mostly shifted by searches to DuckDuckGo.com, which ‘doesn’t track you’ (so they say they collect no data on you, and their results aren’t messed up with Google’s filter bubble).
There are a few times I’ve actually wanted a filter bubble (like finding hairdressers in my city, I dunno), otherwise I almost always use this for searches, and you can set it as the default / headline search engine in most browsers.
Image searching is probably better on Google in my experience. I occasionally googlewhack things - obscure quotes etc - which may appear in one and not the other; I’ve used both for years and there are things both don’t pick up (which I assume is true of most search engines).
Otherwise I’m very happy I stumbled onto a more security conscious way of revealing my darkest secrets 
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Think the only reason why I’m not super paranoid about these things is because I have nothing… I’m just aware that stuff like what is being discussed above happens. Heck Pokemon Go knows where I am when I’m playing it.
And I hope I didn’t offend you Havocbyte… you remind me of a younger me, and I can understand why your defending Alexia.
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Just put tape over your webcams guys. They’re really, really easy to hack. I don’t usually do anything interesting while I sit staring at a screen all day, but I still want to choose when I do it on camera
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You’ve converted me. I plan to use that from now on, even tho i like google search engine.
Edit: I’m not paranoid about any of this, i just really hate apple
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I have no webcams connected to this PC, because I AM paranoid of those things being left plugged in and would tape build in cams lol.
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I can PROVE they keep every ome of your “ok google” , and text to speak conversations. You can even go listen to them if you want. I will never have a listening device. My phone amd comp are both locked down beyond belief. The only webcam i own is built into my laptop and i never use it. (The laptop.) It very much IS spying. Even if you gave permission. Blind faith is never a good thing. Especially with companies who want nothing more than your money. Go look up the conditions in their warehouses. They don’t give a ■■■■ about people.
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“Google, talk dirty to me.” 
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BraceLEDs…
I was talking with a couple of fellow (War)Framers, and this came up. 99% of rap is all the same subject – guns, drugs, sex. When you get the 1% that isn’t…
I match
Y’all be pulling a Raven…
…no, the other Raven.
1809/2220…I give up.
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