I found an Amazon folder with thousands of audio recordings from my home gadgets
By
Charlotte Edwards, The Sun
October 19, 2021 4:25pm
Updated
I found an Amazon folder with thousands of audio recordings from my home gadgets
0:41
/
0:54
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY:
She posted a viral TikTok video explaining how she requested to see the data but wasn’t expecting to receive so much.
TikToker my.data.not.yours explained: “I requested all the data Amazon has on me and here’s what I found.”
She revealed that she has three Amazon smart speakers.
Two are Amazon Dot speakers and one is an Echo device.
Her home also contains smart bulbs.
She said: “When I downloaded the ZIP file these are all the folders it came with.”
The TikToker then clicked on the audio file and revealed thousands of short voice clips that she claims Amazon has collected from her smart speakers.
She described them as “so scary” and played one of her talking about turning on a light.
Tiktok user @my.data.not.yours requested her personal data from Amazon and was shocked by the data it had recorded from her Echo Dots.@my.data.not.yours/TikTok
There are said to be 3,534 short audio clips in that file alone.
She was also sent a “Contacts” file.
The TikToker stated: “It turns out they have a full list of my contacts from my phone and I never remember syncing that.
“The very last thing that I didn’t know that they had, I could have assumed that they have but I don’t love that they have, is my location.”
She revealed another file that apparently showed the exact location of her Alexa smart speakers.
The social media star often makes videos about data privacy and tech.
She said: “I’m not totally comfortable with everything they have.”
The video has been viewed millions of times.
One shocked viewer wrote: “It’s scary that people with Echo Dots and Alexa’s etc don’t know that Amazon records you and keeps the recordings.”
While another joked: “Can someone explain to me why this is ‘scary’? I’m not interesting enough to care if they have my contacts or audio.”
An Amazon spokesperson said: “We give customers transparency and control over their Alexa experience.
“Customers can easily review and delete their voice recordings, or choose not to have them saved at all, at any time.
“Customers can import their mobile phone contacts to the Alexa app so they can use features like hands-free calling and messaging; this optional feature, which customers need to set up, can be disabled at any time.
“Finally, you can grant permissions for the Alexa app to use certain data, such as your mobile device’s geolocation, to provide relevant results (e.g., weather, traffic, restaurant recommendations), and you can manage these permissions in the app.“
By
Charlotte Edwards, The Sun
October 19, 2021 4:25pm
Updated
I found an Amazon folder with thousands of audio recordings from my home gadgets
0:41
/
0:54
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY:
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She posted a viral TikTok video explaining how she requested to see the data but wasn’t expecting to receive so much.
TikToker my.data.not.yours explained: “I requested all the data Amazon has on me and here’s what I found.”
She revealed that she has three Amazon smart speakers.
Two are Amazon Dot speakers and one is an Echo device.
Her home also contains smart bulbs.
She said: “When I downloaded the ZIP file these are all the folders it came with.”
The TikToker then clicked on the audio file and revealed thousands of short voice clips that she claims Amazon has collected from her smart speakers.
She described them as “so scary” and played one of her talking about turning on a light.
Tiktok user @my.data.not.yours requested her personal data from Amazon and was shocked by the data it had recorded from her Echo Dots.@my.data.not.yours/TikTokThere are said to be 3,534 short audio clips in that file alone.
She was also sent a “Contacts” file.
The TikToker stated: “It turns out they have a full list of my contacts from my phone and I never remember syncing that.
“The very last thing that I didn’t know that they had, I could have assumed that they have but I don’t love that they have, is my location.”
She revealed another file that apparently showed the exact location of her Alexa smart speakers.
The social media star often makes videos about data privacy and tech.
She said: “I’m not totally comfortable with everything they have.”
The video has been viewed millions of times.
One shocked viewer wrote: “It’s scary that people with Echo Dots and Alexa’s etc don’t know that Amazon records you and keeps the recordings.”
While another joked: “Can someone explain to me why this is ‘scary’? I’m not interesting enough to care if they have my contacts or audio.”
An Amazon spokesperson said: “We give customers transparency and control over their Alexa experience.
“Customers can easily review and delete their voice recordings, or choose not to have them saved at all, at any time.
“Customers can import their mobile phone contacts to the Alexa app so they can use features like hands-free calling and messaging; this optional feature, which customers need to set up, can be disabled at any time.
“Finally, you can grant permissions for the Alexa app to use certain data, such as your mobile device’s geolocation, to provide relevant results (e.g., weather, traffic, restaurant recommendations), and you can manage these permissions in the app.“
