Alexa Is Making Creepy Noises And Revealing Private Details

[jeff of pa]

Those who Allow that Crap in their Home, Deserve it !

 

[pepperj]

I have a smart house. Smart enough to keep that kind of devices totally out of the house.

I was visiting a friend's house once, and there was a few guys telling past stories.
They left and buddy asked Alexa to make a phone call.
After the phone call he said "Pretty cool eh"

I said: I hope you know "Everything" you say she hears, and records-like the previous stories told.
I got the deer in the headlight look....
Alexa had a serious injury in the shop later.

 

[Red-Coat]

Not only does Alexa use what it ‘knows’ about you, but it also makes guesses by deduction, using any other information it can gather, including by Cross-Device Data Syncing and third-party services connected to your account.

It gathers data about your location and wi-fi network, including how long you spent at particular locations on particular days (if you connect via a cell-phone). It gathers data about anything you have previously enquired about, searched for, or purchased online. It reviews anything sent from or received by your email app and entries you have made in your calendar. It also remembers anything you have said, including what it can hear in the background said by others, and any music, radio or TV channel that was playing. It logs any keywords that it finds useful for updating its profile of you and your interests.

Piecing all that together means that it will come to conclusions (which may or may not be correct) about things like what you do for a living, your general lifestyle, and that of your family, friends, and other contacts.

Alexa will also add “by the way…” comments after you regard a conversation with it as having been concluded and may even begin speaking without the “wake-up” word being said.

You can restrict or turn off many of these features via your privacy settings in the Alexa app in ‘More > Settings > Alexa Privacy > Manage Your Alexa Data.’ From there, you can delete any previous recordings by selecting ‘All History’ and either set the time period for which future recording are stored, or choose not to save at all by turning on ‘auto-delete’.

You can also opt out of human review programs, disable features like Amazon Sidewalk, and turn off the ‘Help Improve Amazon Services and Develop New Features’ option. Sidewalk is a shared network that can automatically link to compatible smart home devices including Echo speakers as well as things like Ring cameras, smart lights or smart locks, vehicle security features, and pet-trackers.

There’s also a ‘Hunches’ setting that you can disable and a ‘Things to Try’ setting which will stop Alexa adding “by the way” suggestions if you switch it off. You can also turn off the annoying ‘Notify Wen Nearby’ setting to stop Alexa activating whenever someone walks by your Echo device and stop communication between Echo devices.

There’s also a ‘Manage Skill Permissions and Ad Preferences’ setting via which Alexa could access things such as your address, contact information and payment details for an Amazon (Prime) account. Most of the preferences should be ‘off’ by default but you can individually set them and how they activate according to your wishes. You should definitely turn off ‘Voice Purchasing’ or at least restrict it by requiring a confirmation code.

I believe there have been some changes since Alexa Plus was announced in early 2025 such that you can no longer stop Alexa from sending voice data to the Amazon cloud for analysis (said to be used to help improve Alexa performance). Although it’s referred to as “human review”, it’s typically done via an algorithm. The actual menu structures and wording may vary according to which version of Echo/Alexa you are using.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. My interactions with smart technology are already complicated enough. Even my new car forcibly showers me with more information than I need as a constant distraction and I have to consult the voluminous handbook to find out how to switch off the various audio and visual warnings. I don’t need my car to warn me that my cell-phone only has 5% charge remaining.