There is no basic privacy law in the US, which means companies like Amazon can do this, and not even tell you, as long as they don’t actually lie to you about it. https://t.co/kJw7bXQcHS pic.twitter.com/hcxnX9aHui

— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) April 11, 2019

Some people will respond to this story with, "Well, what did you expect?"

What's lost on them is that Amazon never explicitly said it does this. Amazon's privacy policy is vague when it should be explicit and direct with what it does with customer information. pic.twitter.com/Lw1gZZKU8x

— Ryan Mac (@RMac18) April 10, 2019

This story is insane: Amazon employs thousands of people around the world who listen to voice recordings captured in Echo owners’ homes and offices to help improve Alexa https://t.co/Law8221Xdr

— Adam Rollason (@adamrollason) April 10, 2019

"The teams use internal chat rooms to share files when they need help parsing a muddled word—or come across an amusing recording." https://t.co/VSVit8dgKa

— Lawrence Hurley (@lawrencehurley) April 11, 2019

Amazon has thousands of people around the world transcribing and annotating Alexa users’ voice recordings, working to fix gaps in its understanding: https://t.co/oOIuC5BCeL The voice assistant relies cutting edge machine learning tech. But it has plenty of human helpers, too.

— Matt Day (@mattmday) April 10, 2019

Amazon should have never expected customers to make the conclusion that using Alexa requests "to train our speech recognition" means the company will record and transcribe their conversations. And it doesn't take an ethics class to understand that either.

— Ryan Mac (@RMac18) April 10, 2019

The aim is to improve Alexa's voice recognition tools; listeners sometimes hear things Echo owners would rather stay private; Amazon, in marketing and privacy policy materials, doesn't call attention to the role of human listeners

— Tom Giles (@tsgiles) April 10, 2019

Amazon has thousands of workers around the globe listening to what users say to their Alexa devices. Sometimes they “use internal chat rooms to share files when they need help parsing a muddled word—or come across an amusing recording.” (Via @business) https://t.co/eEFIxKiKBg

— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) April 10, 2019

A team of 7,000 people at @Amazon review Alexa voice commands and make tweaks to help improve its voice-recognition technology.

“The work is mostly mundane… But sometimes they hear recordings they find upsetting, or possibly criminal.”https://t.co/g1mUJv4WMv

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) April 10, 2019

Do you think Google employees see people's search queries? How about other users via Google Trends?

Is Alexa different because spoken not typed?

The problem with tech press reporting every bit of news as a scandal is that eventually nothing is a scandal. https://t.co/UbhRyz9BUl

— Dare Obasanjo (@Carnage4Life) April 11, 2019

"Amazon, in its marketing and privacy policy materials, doesn’t explicitly say humans are listening to recordings of some conversations picked up by Alexa." https://t.co/HXeCCQdpQ4

— Lauren Goode (@LaurenGoode) April 10, 2019

New story from the @technology crew on the Amazon workers quietly toiling behind the scenes, listening to recordings from Alexa devices in people's homes. It can get awkward. https://t.co/lqkysgsTAW

— Brad Stone (@BradStone) April 10, 2019

An army of Amazon workers around the world listen to and transcribe what users tell Alexa (whether it’s by intent or by accident). The most interesting/intimate recordings are, like with the NSA, shared amongst colleagues for support or laughs. https://t.co/w5VzRueEgH

— DHH (@dhh) April 11, 2019

Is anyone surprised? @Livid2point0 @DigitalPatriotQ @Trumped18 @Q1295tinman @Sandfarmer007 Amazon employees listen in to your conversations with Alexa | ZDNet https://t.co/hvPt6vvLUP

— SissyQ (@onebigsister) April 11, 2019

Amazon employees listen in to your conversations with Alexa https://t.co/jom8bj2bMs by @SecurityCharlie

— ZDNet (@ZDNet) April 11, 2019

Jeff Bezos joins Henry Ford and Steve Jobs in the “I know what I’m doing” magnate category https://t.co/TVBPy5VoFN pic.twitter.com/blz15e92g9

— Mike Murphy (@mcwm) April 11, 2019

Jeff Bezos upended the smart-home industry by not listening to customers https://t.co/84sRJx2Qpn

— Quartz (@qz) April 11, 2019

recycle your electronics responsibly, best buy will take e-waste for free!https://t.co/kiiGPUGTPQ

— low orbit homie (@dendycrew) April 11, 2019

Amazon stores recordings of Alexa interactions and turns them over to internal staff and outside contractors for review https://t.co/r2YYKRhumZ

— John Dupuis (@dupuisj) April 11, 2019

Amazon stores recordings of Alexa interactions and turns them over to internal staff and outside contractors for review https://t.co/xm8b01KrdG

— Don't Blame Me I Voted for Vermin Supreme (@turnageb) April 11, 2019

Amazon stores recordings of Alexa interactions and turns them over to internal staff and outside contractors for review https://t.co/8spXYeIJac pic.twitter.com/Z2BMMVHjQY

— Masque of the Red Death (@doctorow) April 11, 2019

If you have an Amazon Echo product, you aren't the only person privy to your private conversations, report finds: https://t.co/71DqC4ZaGu

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 11, 2019

ICYMI: Amazon employs thousands of people to listen to Echo recordings https://t.co/vGDollmFKj by @lukedormehl pic.twitter.com/KgWPBvpG8t

— Cult of Mac (@cultofmac) April 11, 2019

Amazon employs thousands of people to listen to Echo recordings https://t.co/vGDollmFKj by @lukedormehl pic.twitter.com/FngKxwNcYU

— Cult of Mac (@cultofmac) April 11, 2019

Your conversations are safe with us unlike ⁦@amazon,⁩ ⁦@Google and⁩ ⁦@Apple⁩. #Phone2Phone #ProtectYourPrivates https://t.co/NygORq6Ay3

— Sense.Chat ??⚡️ (@SenseToken) April 11, 2019

Note to anyone surprised by this story: You’ve really not been paying attention for the last few years, have you?https://t.co/kxKe6siZ4w

— Peter Hoskins (@PeterHoskinsTV) April 11, 2019

"Eyes off" analysis is one of the most interesting and challenging topics in machine learning. There should be more research and discussion about it. https://t.co/6FQfpG4z9g

— Daniel McDuff (@danmcduff) April 11, 2019

“They also described hearing distressing clips such as a potential sexual assault. However, they were told by colleagues that it was not Amazon's job to intervene.”
Humans reviewing Alexa commands are listening to the things said in your home. https://t.co/aTEUKKdlGo

— RMGirl (@RMGirlUK) April 11, 2019

인공지능 스피커는 당연히 회사가 듣고 있음
그래도 기계가 아닌 사람이 들었다고 하면 색다른 기분
왜 그럴까
그건 사람은 개입(누설, 간섭)하려는 ‘마음’을 지녔다는 걸 사람인 우리가 알기 때문에
하지만 (성폭행 의심 상황에) 개입하지 않았다는 이 뉴스에는 또 다른 기분 https://t.co/jCkilyKJ4P

— Goodhyun 김국현 (@goodhyun) April 12, 2019

ICYMI - Amazon employs thousands of people to listen to Echo recordings https://t.co/vGDollmFKj by @lukedormehl

— Cult of Mac (@cultofmac) April 12, 2019

BBC News - Smart speaker recordings reviewed by humans https://t.co/IpsMnf2XwS

— Thunderbird ???⛪️?? (@Thunderbirds511) April 12, 2019

Amazon, Apple and Google all employ staff who listen to customer voice recordings from their smart speakers and voice assistant apps. Reaction suggests many customers are unaware that humans may be listening. https://t.co/Yg2mXkIa1J

— Vatche Dakessian (@VGDakessian) April 12, 2019

Anyone who has one of these is mad as far as I am concerned...https://t.co/eajTJJZ09y

— BristolDolt (@BristolDolt) April 12, 2019

Le. Gasp.
https://t.co/DtOp4iuBck

— Nicole Brandon ? (@puretemerity) April 11, 2019