Amazon's Echo Spot Is a Sneaky Way To Get a Camera Into Your Bedroom (theverge.com) 155
Yesterday, Amazon announced six new hardware products at a surprise event in Seattle. The one that everyone is talking about though is called the Echo Spot -- a little alarm clock with a camera that will probably be pointing directly at your bed. "While all the focus is on what the Echo Spot looks like, it's important to remember that Amazon is using the Spot as a very clever way of making you comfortable with having a camera in your bedroom," reports The Verge. From the report: Amazon launched its Echo Look camera earlier this year to judge your outfits. It's designed to sit in your wardrobe and offer you style advice, and it was Amazon's first Echo device with a camera. Amazon quickly followed it up with the Echo Show, a touchscreen device that sits in your kitchen and lets you watch tutorials or recipes and participate in video calls. Amazon's Look device is still only available exclusively by invitation, and in hindsight it now looks like experimental hardware to gauge the reaction of a camera in the bedroom. A litmus test, if you will. Echo Spot feels like the real push to get cameras inside your smart home. It's more than just an alarm clock, but Amazon is definitely pushing this as a $130 device that will sit next to your bed. Promotional materials show it sitting on nightstands, providing a selection of clock faces and news / weather information. The privacy concerns are obvious: an always-listening (for a keyword) microphone in your bedroom, and a camera pointing at your bed.
Well, fuck. (Score:5, Funny)
...a little alarm clock with a camera that will probably be pointing directly at your bed.
WOW! Quite the salacious dirty (wink, wink, nod, nod...) thing to suggest, I'm getting hot just thinking about it. I'm not sure why it would "probably" be pointed at my bed. Am I positioning it that way? Can the device re-position its eye as its masters at Amazon direct it? Is the suggestion that Amazon is interested in capturing pictures of me fucking? And why? Are they going to try to monetized fuck videos of me? Are they going to analyze my fucking technique and try to sell me self-help books and videos? Are they going to suggest that I and my mate might look better fucking on a certain bedspreads and zillion-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets? Because the way the suggestion is presented, clearly the author of the Verge article thinks Amazon has some sort of interest in watching me fuck.
Re: Well, fuck. (Score:1)
well, the joke is on Amazon...cause mine is going in the bathroom.
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Everyone knows if there is a camera they put in a room, they can position it however they want, surely?
Well of course. They can also position the face of the clock however they want. Most people, though, will want to to position it so they can see it from the bed, and if the camera is coaxial with the clock, then the camera will be pointed at the bed. See how that works?
Also, don't call me Shirley.
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Mmmm. Creepy Cameras-- just the thing that took Google Glass and pushed it into The Dead Pool of bad thoughts in consumer electronics devices....
Re: Well, fuck. (Score:2, Funny)
I look forward to hacking your daughter's alarm clock and jacking off to the nightly strip show.
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I look forward to hacking your daughter's alarm clock and jacking off to the nightly strip show.
My daughter was born without a vagina, you insensitive clod.
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I look forward to hacking your daughter's alarm clock and jacking off to the nightly strip show.
My daughter was born without a vagina, you insensitive clod.
He might just have a fetish for watching her change her ostomy bag?
Re: Well, fuck. (Score:1)
Cause of course that is where women pee...
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You're right. No one would ever be upset about their sexual exploits being made public. Certainly no one would fund Hulk Hogan to try to take down Gawker as revenge. And IoT devices have such a reputation for security.
To say nothing of the fact that while the company itself mught not give a shit, it might be something the employees of said company do.
Re:Well, fuck. (Score:5, Funny)
You're right. No one would ever be upset about their sexual exploits being made public.
Too bad for Amazon (and their would-be hackers)... I'm married... nothing to see here.
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Brings to mind the old "what's worse than finding a worm in your apple" joke. What's worse than the hackers finding nothing happening on your bedroom webcam? You being one of the hackers who sees something happening. (Or better infidelity based punchline.)
Pretty obviously pointed at the bed (Score:3)
I'm not sure why it would "probably" be pointed at my bed. Am I positioning it that way?
I don't know, do you purposefully position clocks so you cannot rad them?
I assure you most people who bother to put a clock in the bedroom would rather be able to read it from the bed, than not. To them this is a kind of clock, among many other things.
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I don't know, do you purposefully position clocks so you cannot rad them?
Yes, I do actually. I can't stand the light from them and reach over to turn it to look if I care what time it is. I don't care what time is it when I'm asleep, I just want it to wake me up in the morning.
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I just use an analog clock. No light. Also, battery powered so I wake up even if there was a power flicker while sleeping. How weird is that?
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I don't know, do you purposefully position clocks so you cannot rad them?
Before my phone took the place of my alarm clock, I always kept the alarm clock in my bedroom faced away from my bed. I rarely need to know what time it is when I'm in bed, so there was no reason to have the glow of the clock shining on me all night.
I just want the alarm in the morning.
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It's called security, how secure will the device be, when hacked what will be uploaded to the internet. Do you trust Amazon with your future career, this on a $130 device with a 90 day warranty and if porn goes up of you and your partner what will be the warranty payout when you are fired, maximum $130. You say all sorts of crap in the bedroom, want that broadcast to your employer or even more fun, you children's friend sharing it in school because kids, you know they will do it too each other and of course
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...a little alarm clock with a camera that will probably be pointing directly at your bed.
I'm not sure why it would "probably" be pointed at my bed. Am I positioning it that way?
Well, I'd imagine you want to see the time from your bed, and I'd also imagine this camera isn't on a swivel. As for the rest of it, why the fuck indeed. Why does an alarm clock need a camera and why would any one want this?
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and I'd also imagine this camera isn't on a swivel.
I don't either. I imagine it being a 360 degree camera or a good approximation.
Re: Well, fuck. (Score:2)
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I'm with you on this one - No company or organisation has ever lost any data to persons-unknown on the Internet, so whatever recordings or videos they happen to make, intentionally or otherwise are completely safe. Thinking about it, no company has ever been found using 'production data' for testing purposes, or just 'employee browsing' either. Yep, double-safe. Where do I sign up?
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Hmm... not just you but it appears that Amazon now wants to corner the market on amateur pr0n live streams. It'll be an Amazon Prime Add-On ( like their $6.99/mo. Anime Strike channel.)
Amazon truly wants be the King of Online Entertainment Content.
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I'm not sure why it would "probably" be pointed at my bed.
Because the camera is on the same face as the clock.
Most people face the clock towards the bed so they can read it.
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Not of you, no. Your mother, well, we already have decades of hers. I even have the 8mm from her first appearance.
That's great! She's lost her copies and has been looking on the Internet and the Usenet groups dedicated towards dried up filthy whores who have fucked more living and dead things than Madonna... So, SWEET! Private message me, please!
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child sex offender laws (Score:1)
child sex offender laws what will amazon do so that any thing near that comes on to there network?
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lube at every monitoring station?
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Tasteless AND funny - good job!
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Already have that (Score:2, Interesting)
Isn't it the same thing when people have their cell phones on and having it in their bedroom as an alarm clock? This is becoming way out of hand. More devices, always-on microphones and cameras.
Multiple devices = multi-camera angles!! Great.
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In most cases the camera will either point up at a ceiling or point down at some surface. Your cell phone also has an incentive not to spy on you - power consumption would make it unmarketable.
Re: Already have that (Score:1)
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When iPhones phones start coming with 360 degree panoramic optics.... what then?
We'll cross that bridge when we come to it?
Re: Already have that (Score:1)
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The iPhone 8s comes with a built in singularity that sucks in passing photons. I read it on BGR.
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You can buy 360 degree panorama cameras OFF THE FUCKING SHELF at big box stores these days. For example, at Best Buy [bestbuy.com] you ignorant dishonest pretending fuck.
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Won't someone PLEASE think of the NSA agents that have to see and hear all of that?
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if kids have these things we can have the NSA arrested for child porn
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Well, if you think of the children all the time, it's likely you're a pedo.
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A cell phone is not typically put in a place where it can get a good picture of anything. If in a pocket the cell phone won't see much. If on a flat surface, like a bedside table or bathroom vanity, the camera is going to be facing up into the ceiling or down into the surface. I know that there are people that prop up a cell phone so that it can be used as an alarm clock or to stream video but this is not typical behavior.
The Echo Spot will be a target for getting video of bedrooms because it's primary f
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A cell phone is not typically put in a place where it can get a good picture of anything.
Hell, people trying to take pictures with a cell phone can't get a good picture of anything.
I'm comfortable with a camera in my bedroom (Score:5, Funny)
Most people who get to see the resulting movies aren't, though.
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A Ferguson [youtube.com].
Missed Naming Opportunity (Score:2)
Instead of "Echo", they could have called it "E-Spot".
Re: Missed Naming Opportunity (Score:4, Funny)
Call me Mr Flintstone, I can make your bed rock
If you're buying this crap, you deserve it (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow, how stupid have people gotten? You cant even trust companies iwth your SSN, you're going to leave these devices in your homes?
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Even worse, in the throes of passion I normally yell out my social security number, in Spanish! Sofia thinks I'm describing what I'm doing to her, it just turns her on even more!!
bedroom sex (Score:2)
Who are these morons? (Score:5, Insightful)
Camera in your bedroom?
Please, some one hack these and publish it on the internet.
Anyone stupid enough to buy this crap deserves to have the entire world laugh at them.
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The more you call them stupid the more this tsunami (of stupidity) will grow.
This is just where human beings are going now in their state of confusion. Thinking the apple fell on Steve Jobs's head. Get use to it as the internet starts to resemble more of a tumor than a way to actually convey information.
Re:Who are these morons? (Score:4, Funny)
Camera in your bedroom?
Hey, I'm just trying to pay my way through college.
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Camera in your bedroom?
My bedroom routinely has two smartphones and thus four cameras in it (front + back on both).
Re:Who are these morons? (Score:4, Informative)
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Uhm, no. I don't. Only morons do that.
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I have a Linux box in my bedroom for streaming. No Camera. No mic.
If my phone is in there, wi-fi is off. That's what the pc is for.
Not complicated really.
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cameras and microphones everywhere (Score:1)
Well, let's see. Anyone who has a smartphone, tablet, or computer in their bedroom is already providing surveillance equipment for anyone who can hack their way in. I don't see how the Echo Spot is appreciably different.
To me, the creepy thing about the whole connected house and voice-activated digital assistants is that they're always listening. I don't care so much if someone ogles me in the altogether or watches me having sex (they might learn something!), but I don't like the idea of people listening to
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I don't see how the Echo Spot is appreciably different.
It's different in two ways -- I imagine that most people don't have their phones propped up so the cameras can actually see the bed. They're probably lying flat on a nightstand where they have a great view of the ceiling.
Also, most people's cell phones aren't operated by or in constant communication with Amazon.
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You're right that cell phones aren't usually propped up so they can see the bed, but some people put their phones in charging cradles or stands to keep them upright.
There are documented cases of people remotely activating laptop cameras to spy on people. School officials have spied on students in their bedrooms via school-issued laptops.
It's not that hard for hackers to remotely seize control of computer cameras and microphones, and that would include the type of computer you carry in your pocket. Apps ofte
Anybody (Score:2)
Want to send me money for my GoFundMe where I will probably invent different sizes and colors of electrical tape cut into specific shapes to fit the cameras on any device?
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I can't imagine that would sell. People who are concerned about privacy aren't buying one of these things in the first place.
I found the summary confusing (Score:1)
#784 on the list of the things that can be fixed (Score:2)
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The new model has an x-ray camera that can see through duct tape.
Will catch me coming out of the shower to change.. (Score:2)
.. will produce fake news of an anaconda on the loose....
1984 (Score:1)
cheap camera, no zoom (Score:2)
I predict there will be a rash of unplanned pregnancies by device-centric teenagers going "oh, so that's what you meant by 'put a sock on it'".
Boy scout planning way ahead: "Echo, instructions for putting on a sock before sex."
Echo: "On me? Or you?"
Boy scout: "Pretend you've got your own sock already."
Echo: "Okay, stick out your foot."
Boy scout: "What?"
Echo: "Consider your foot a model for your future manhood."
Boy scout: "What's wrong with my present manhood?"
Echo: "Can't tell you, cheap camera, no zoom."
Oh yeah? (Score:2)
Joke's on them, I sleep on the floor.
This could go horribly wrong... (Score:2)
...if your unsuccessfully-suppressed squeak-farts make a sound like Sssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeery.
edging ever closer (Score:4, Interesting)
--- Dave Eggers, The Circle
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Ahahaha (Score:3)
Fuck no.
We're gonna need a bigger lens (Score:3)
Stasi... just *you* pay for it! (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm currently living in Berlin.
When people come up with Amazon Echo and its kind, I usually tell them: "You see, some time ago, the state would come into your flat, install some listening devices *at their cost* and even fix whatever damage to the wallpapers they could have made in the process. Nowadays *you* go out and shell out some money to get that."
Those having been in Berlin before 1989 get this strange look on their faces and seem to understand.
Stasi would have *killed* for having a live video stream on top of their listening bugs!
There is a difference between The State and Amazon? Hm. That depends on... circumstances. Very volatile circumstances.
(And no, I'm not particularly picking on Amazon: Google, Facebook, whatever are more of the same).
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Surreptitious surveillance devices are like tossing gasoline on the fire.
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Orwellian... (Score:2)
Shocking (Score:1)
Come on guys (Score:2)
Orwell's prophetic 1984 (Score:3)
"Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures which had something to do with the production of pig-iron. The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.
“He thought of the telescreen with its never-sleeping ear. They could spy upon you night and day, but if you kept your head you could still outwit them. With all their cleverness they had never mastered the secret of finding out what another human being was thinking. . . . Facts, at any rate, could not be kept hidden. They could be tracked down by inquiry, they could be squeezed out of you by torture. But if the object was not to stay alive but to stay human, what difference did it ultimately make? They could not alter your feelings; for that matter you could not alter them yourself, even if you wanted to. They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose workings were mysterious even to yourself, remained impregnable.”
"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called.
And sure, Amazon is not the NSA, but if you think the NSA is not going to exploit this tech, well then I've got a bridge I can sell you...
Amazon Echo is a blatantly obvious way ... (Score:2)
... to get a camera in your bedroom.
FTFY.
Tape on my camera (Score:2)
Yes. (Score:2)
No.
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It makes sense (Score:2)
People who are OK with these sorts of devices in their home probably aren't bothered by the addition of cameras, no matter where they are placed.
Often bought together (Score:2)
Amazon G-spot...erm...E-Spot
https://www.amazon.com/Duck-29... [amazon.com]
Seriously though people...after the ZOMG YOUR LAPTOP CAMERA IS SPYING ON YOU Apocalypse (ahem) people put tape or got fancy little sliding doors for their cameras. Why amazon isn't building that into something meant for the bedroom with a camera in it is beyond me...but it's not really THAT hard to fix.
Related: I fully expect these will be hacked and some interesting videos posted. But it won't be the first time cameras have gotten into the bedr
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