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They Are Listening

Voice Assistants

Comparing the reality of smart speakers vs the marketing claims.

Amazon (Alexa)

High Ecosystem Integration Retail Driven

Amazon's primary goal is reducing the friction to purchase. Audio interactions are parsed and fed directly into your overarching Amazon retail profile. In 2019, it was revealed they employed thousands of human reviewers to listen to audio clips to "improve" the system.

Mitigation: Open the Alexa app. Settings > Alexa Privacy > Manage Your Alexa Data. Choose "Don't save recordings" and turn off "Help improve Alexa."

Google (Assistant)

Ad Network Driven High Accuracy

Google's core business is advertising. Voice queries are treated similarly to text searches on Google.com—they indicate intent and update your advertising profile across the Google network (YouTube, Display Network).

Mitigation: Google Account > Data & Privacy > Web & App Activity. Uncheck "Include voice and audio activity."

Apple (Siri / HomePod)

Hardware Driven Local Processing

Apple sells hardware, not ads. They emphasize local processing (Neural Engine) to resolve requests without sending audio to the cloud. When data is sent, it is associated with a random identifier, not your Apple ID.

Mitigation: Settings > Siri & Search > Siri & Dictation History > Delete.