So what's with Alexa spying on us?...

along with smartphones, laptops, smart appliances, your electric meter,  Facecrap, Twitter, Amazon, and ebay. 

Did I leave anything out?  Probably.

Today was an interesting article about Alexa on American Thinker, Alexa, what are you doing in my room?, by Pem Schaeffer, which covers Global Digital Infrastructure, the Cloud, and artificial intelligence, and the vast spying abilities and dangers of Alexa. 

[...]I hope you can fathom the serious risks involved in these devices and their underlying technology.  Appreciating the dangers they represent to our children and grandchildren is the first step in recognizing the security vulnerabilities they impose upon us all.  

This isn’t about technology; it’s about generational technology naïveté conflated with human willingness to corrupt and control through the most innocent of means.  It is about natural impulses to abuse. 

These devices are a modern-day version of illegal search and seizure.  Combined with the leftist-driven breakdown of societal values, we face a future where we all become cattle to powerful elites.  The only question is how willingly we do so. read the rest at American Thinker

For me, he’s not telling me anything I don’t know.  Most of you know I don’t have a smart phone – not because I fear its ability to track me, but simply because I don’t need one.  I have plenty of other things tracking me to worry about one more.  Not for one nano second do I believe that my emergency cheapo Tracfone, even turned off, is not capable of keeping track of me

Do I like it?  Hell noes!

Can I do anything about it?  Hell noes.

Do I worry about it?  More hell noes.

It’s almost impossible to keep from being tracked somewhere by someone.  I drive to Walmart and witness a plethora of cameras on the roadways, cameras are mounted on the top of the store, and closed caption TV tracks me while I’m in the store. 

Most of these cameras are trying to keep us safe from the bad guys.  Can they be abused?  Sure, but so can any technology – even the technology that saves lives in the operating room.

A commenter soundly rebuked me a few weeks ago for linking to a deal on an Alexa device.  Was I aware that Alexa had powerful tracking abilities?  Yes.

Anyone who has made more than one trip here knows I am an Amazon affiliate.  I earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you, when you purchase an item from one of my links.  The small commission applies to even items I haven’t specifically linked.   Lately, I have been singling out either items I’ve used and like or items that seem useful and have good reviews and a responsive compant which I research pretty thoroughly.  I don’t accept outside advertising and my Amazon commission is my only source of income.

Here’s the bottom line: 

 I learned long ago that people are individuals and must make their own decisions.  I still think tech, even low tech like TV’s, is not healthy for growing children.  I don’t think a teenager being glued to their smartphone is healthy.  I think adults sitting at the dinner table with their family while cruising the internet is repulsive.  I think internet porn is a dangerous scourge on society.  I think being bombarded daily with targeted advertising is the pits.

But what I think is not the teeniest bit important. 

  What’s important is for people to do their own research and make their own decisions. 




At Amazon:

I think this would be very handy when you don’t want to haul out the iron (if you even own an iron.) 

ProAid Portable Handheld Fabric Steamer, Fast Heat-Up 900W Travel Garment Steamer, Mini Clothes Steamer