/2016/12/28/amazon-alexa-data-wanted-in-murder-investigation. ALEXA is no snitch, but you ought to hear what the water meter is saying about you.
This will be billed as a conflict between the electronic frontier, personal privacy and an over reaching state. It is not. Here is what happened, in Bentonville, Arkansas four buddies got together to watch football and drink heavily. After the game, one guy went home and the other three wound up in the hot tub. At a certain point the homeowner called it a night and went to bed. He invited the other two to stay and left them.
The next morning the homeowner, Bates discovered Collins was still in the hot tub and deceased. Bates contacted the police and an investigation was begun. Physical evidence recovered at the scene indicated that a physical altercation took place, but shed no light as to the participants. The medical examiner subsequently ruled that Collins was the victim of a criminal homicide.
Investigating officers noted that the home was equipped with a wide variety of home automation gadgets to include the Amazon Echo. According to the company literature the Amazon Echo is designed to be a voice activated bridge to the Internet and automatic home devices. Normally the device is passive and requires a prompt “Alexa” (the name of the voice interface) to awaken and respond. The information is not designed to be kept long term but is kept by Amazon on their servers.
The investigating officers also queried the water utility in Bentonville, Arkansas. They were able to determine that during around the time of the murder 140 gallons of water was used.
Therein lies the rub. Two devices ultimately allowing two vendors to cater to the needs of one customer with a similar service model. It follows that one set of rules is sufficient. The officer’s search warrant was sufficient to obtain the information he sought in Arkansas but not sufficient in California. The standard for issuance of a search warrant is “probable cause” and barring any California law to the contrary, the Arkansas warrant is valid.
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Utilities, merchants, service providers obtain all sorts of information from their customers and they pass that information right along to wherever it suits their purposes with nary an explanation or excuse. Don’t believe me, here is a simple test for those of you with Kindle. Go to Kindle Unlimited or and find the shittest book, a boddis ripper one you would never read in a million years. Borrow it don’t by it. Do this for about three weeks, then take a look at the “suggested for you list.” My bet is that your recommended list has been hijacked by the romance novels.
The Amazon Echo bills itself as the one stop shop to control your environment. Want music, tell it. Want to dim the lights, lower the temperature so that she will snuggle a little closer. Just give voice to the thought. If Amazon Echo implemented those commands in and of itself, then Amazon might have an argument regarding client privacy. But that is not the case. In order to play that sure fire cache of mood music Amazon Echo has to find it. There it is, right where it has alway been, in Itunes by Apple. Amazon Echo can talk to NEST, take care of that temperature right away, just after it it talks to NEST and NEST talks to the local electric utility. Getting a little crowded on that couch.
The reality is there is no electronic privacy. You sold your right to privacy for discount on the cost of toilet paper and tampons. As to the search warrant, I’ve only written reviewed a couple of thousand of them looks valid on it’s face to me.