Amazon Announces 4 New Echos

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Humanity is not lost because some of us own Alexa devices. Humanity is lost if we do nothing to fix global warming.

Global warming (and cooling) comes and goes with sunspots. We can't "fix" that.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by haertig

Not owning an Echo, I guess you don't realize that there is a button to turn off all listening if you want.

And, I"m guessing, the microphone can be turned back on remotely.

Originally Posted by haertig

I used to be like you - strongly against any "spyware listening device" in my home. But then I realized that my computers have one of those built in too. So do my TV sets. So do the remote controls for my DVR's.

Not on my computer or TV or DVR.

Originally Posted by haertig

So, I now have Alexa devices in my house.

Choice is good and you've chosen differently than I would. I would rather give up some convenience to remove the possibility of a spying device in my home. If I'm wrong, I really haven't lost anything.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Not on my computer or TV or DVR.

Or so you think. If your car is less than ten years old, there's a pretty good chance that is an unadvertised mic in there as well. Your cellphone has a mic in it - and those can be turned on remotely. Doesn't do a lot of good to buy old gear - computers, TVs, DVRs - that don't have mics, or worry about an Echo device, when you carry a mic around in your pocket wherever you go.

Right now our technology/society is pretty much on the edge where we might say "That doesn't affect me", and the answer is "Yes it does, you just don't realize it". It's like the days of old when you could run into the woods and hide from authorities. Nowadays they'll find you in a heartbeat. Probably even by using your heartbeat, for all we know.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by haertig

Or so you think. If your car is less than ten years old, there's a pretty good chance that is an unadvertised mic in there as well. Your cellphone has a mic in it - and those can be turned on remotely. Doesn't do a lot of good to buy old gear - computers, TVs, DVRs - that don't have mics, or worry about an Echo device, when you carry a mic around in your pocket wherever you go.

Right now our technology/society is pretty much on the edge where we might say "That doesn't affect me", and the answer is "Yes it does, you just don't realize it". It's like the days of old when you could run into the woods and hide from authorities. Nowadays they'll find you in a heartbeat. Probably even by using your heartbeat, for all we know.

The difference is that in my car (for example) I don't choose to have the mic there (if one exists). Buying an Echo is choosing to actively have your house bugged. Also the car is parked in the garage most of the time, so constant audio recording isn't happening in my house. Big difference. As for my phone, you're probably right, though I normally carry a flip phone, when I carry a phone at all. And here there is another difference. If someone wants to "listen in" on my conversations on the phone (or when I'm carrying it) they have to specifically target me. It's not the same as my audio being routinely collected 24/7 on Amazon's servers.

None of what you're saying about "what is" means I should invite even more bugging into my home. That's throwing up your hands and giving up. With the FBI now targeting traditional Catholics, anti-abortionists and parents who go to school board meetings (under domestic "terrorist" laws), how long before they start requesting audio (or transcripts) from customers who've bought traditional Catholic books or books on winning back your school district? Or books on anti-abortion activism? (As three examples.) And Amazon does routinely turn over this information to government entities.

Not for me. Your choice here is not my choice.

"Amazon confirms it holds on to Alexa data even if you delete audio files"

https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/3/20...ording-privacy

[DiapDealer]

Way to go all tinfoil hat on everyone.

Take it to P&R.

[John F]

Originally Posted by rcentros

...

None of what you're saying about "what is" means I should invite even more bugging into my home. That's throwing up your hands and giving up. With the FBI now targeting traditional Catholics, anti-abortionists and parents who go to school board meetings (under domestic "terrorist" laws), how long before they start requesting audio (or transcripts) from customers who've bought traditional Catholic books or books on winning back your school district? Or books on anti-abortion activism? (As three examples.) And Amazon does routinely turn over this information to government entities.

...

Someone has to protect us from the atheist baby killers.

WTF! Take it to the P&R forum.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Global warming (and cooling) comes and goes with sunspots. We can't "fix" that.

That is cyclic and averages out on a decadal scale. There might be long term changes in solar magnetic activity on scales of thousands or millions of years that we can't do much about. In a few billion years Earth will be toast (but not because of sunspots).

The total amount of heat trapping gases present because of human activity has been increasing for centuries. We can "fix" that.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by John F

Someone has to protect us from the atheist baby killers.

WTF! Take it to the P&R forum.

Responding to another poster about why I wouldn't allow an Echo in my house by using recent examples of FBI overreach and unwarranted intrusion.

I choose not to let Amazon bug my house. Others may freely choose to do otherwise.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Way to go all tinfoil hat on everyone.

Take it to P&R.

Yeah because there's NEVER been government overreach, right? It would be nice to live in your imaginary world.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

That is cyclic and averages out on a decadal scale. There might be long term changes in solar magnetic activity on scales of thousands or millions of years that we can't do much about. In a few billion years Earth will be toast (but not because of sunspots).

The total amount of heat trapping gases present because of human activity has been increasing for centuries. We can "fix" that.

We've had much warmer temperatures and much cooler temperatures in the last thousand years. (Higher temperatures when sunspot activity was high and lower temperatures when it wasn't.) Even in the 1970s they were talking about a new ice age. And who is to say what the temperature should be?

Maybe those in England and northern Europe would like to be able to grow grapes and make wine again like they did in the warm period before the Little Ice Age (when sunspots almost non-existent).

https://thisdayinwinehistory.com/win...ittle-ice-age/

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by rcentros

We've had much warmer temperatures and much cooler temperatures in the last thousand years. (Higher temperatures when sunspot activity was high and lower temperatures when it wasn't.) Even in the 1970s they were talking about a new ice age. And who is to say what the temperature should be?

Maybe those in England and northern Europe would like to be able to grow grapes and make wine again like they did in the warm period before the Little Ice Age (when sunspots almost non-existent).

https://thisdayinwinehistory.com/win...ittle-ice-age/

This is getting pretty far away from echos, but your own source says:

The reasons for the Little Ice Age are not entirely understood. There are different theories as to what caused it including a string of volcano eruptions, a change in the ocean’s circulation, an orbital cycle, or an increase in human population.

Some scientists speculate that (lack of) sunspots contributed to the Little Ice Age but none claim that was the primary cause (and thisdayinwinehistory.com doesn't even mention it.)

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Yeah because there's NEVER been government overreach, right?.

Whether there has or there hasn't: you know perfectly well that this is not the place to discuss it. As I already said: take your political and religious aspects of this discussion to P&R where they belong.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Whether there has or there hasn't: you know perfectly well that this is not the place to discuss it. As I already said: take your political and religious aspects of this discussion to P&R where they belong.

I'm not the one who brought up either subject (as you know). I'm also not the one who first introduced snide remarks into the conversation.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by rcentros

We've had much warmer temperatures and much cooler temperatures in the last thousand years. (Higher temperatures when sunspot activity was high and lower temperatures when it wasn't.) Even in the 1970s they were talking about a new ice age. And who is to say what the temperature should be?

Maybe those in England and northern Europe would like to be able to grow grapes and make wine again like they did in the warm period before the Little Ice Age (when sunspots almost non-existent).

https://thisdayinwinehistory.com/win...ittle-ice-age/

You've really gone off the deep end.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/fe...ming/page2.php

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by afv011

You've really gone off the deep end.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/fe...ming/page2.php

Perhaps you should have gone back a few more years. Perhaps back to when Greenland was green and not just as part of Erik the Red's advertising campaign? You have read those articles on the boreal forest on Greenland in areas when the icecap is now ~2KM thick. Admittedly, even when Erik the Red was selling off Greenland estates, the temperature there was ~1.5° above the average so 10° summers were common for about 500 years (985-1450AD).

Search out Medieval warmth confirmed at the Norse Eastern Settlement in Greenland for more information. Or even just Medieval Warm period. Or go back a few years and check out the Roman Warm period.

The nasty bit is that the Bronze Age (Holocene Maximum), Roman and Medieval warm periods were localized event while the current temperature increase is global.

Now to dig out my telescope to see if I can locate the topic of this thread.