Always Listening
It’s no secret that Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant records everything said to it, and the company hasn’t made it easy to delete those recordings — you either have to erase each utterance individually or visit Amazon’s website to delete the whole trove of recordings at once.
But as of Wednesday, a new feature on all Alexa-enabled devices lets you delete a day’s worth of commands in one fell swoop by saying “Alexa, delete everything I said today.” It’s a step in the right direction, but it feels more like a minor concession in the face of criticism than a sign Amazon is truly ready to give users control over their data.
Bury the Lede
The daily data cleanse isn’t the only privacy-related update Amazon announced on Wednesday. It also noted the creation of a new Alexa Privacy Hub, which contains information on Amazon’s Echo devices. A feature that will let you delete only your last command is also “coming soon,” according to Amazon.
While these updates are a step in the right direction, Amazon still has a lot of ground to make up in terms of violating users’ privacy.
And the fact that the company chose to bury the news of these new privacy options in a single paragraph near the bottom of a press release announcing the creation of yet another Echo device doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that it suddenly views privacy as a top priority.
READ MORE: Amazon now lets you tell Alexa to delete your voice recordings [The Verge]
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