Convenience, but at a cost: Privacy

On the erosion of privacy in Modern Civilization

I was walking downtown Montreal this morning and I was surprised to see so many people using the white Apple AirPods thingy.

They are walking around with microphones in their jeans pocket (iPhone) and microphones around their head… These devices are actively listening to everything they say. Or that someone says. And because every iPhones and chisp has an unique IME number, The System knows exactly who’s who, at all time. And who says what too.

I am impressed that anyone would sell their privacy this way: but what is even more impressive to me is the fact that they might not even be aware that their phone is listening to them! They don’t understand that their iPhone or AirPods can answer to Hey Siri! is because it’s actively listening to everything, at all time.

And it isn’t even speech-recognition performed locally: no, every word is sent to Apple’s servers (now many in China) and analyzed over there.

The process is extremely quick, but it goes like this: speech to phone, phone to server, server to query into a database, database send back data, data back to the server, to cell towers, to phone, to speaker to you. All in less than a second sometimes.

Why would anyone purchase HomePods or Amazon Echo devices is beyond me: it is nothing more than inviting the subcontractors from these big corporations to listen to you. The web is filled with example.

Maybe for this upcoming holiday season, give the gift of privacy to people. Buy them an old camera, a good pair of wired headphones…

Your privacy is worth a lot – but too often this is only realized when it is too late.

Cheers,

JP