100% incorrect. I thought the same as you, but I just used the Alexa app on my phone and heard recordings of guests giving Alexa orders. “Turn on the lights” “Play Happy Birthday”, “What time does American 2295 land?”. etc. It was just the order given Alexa, nothing else, but it was a recording. I immediately shut it off.
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How can you not see a difference between a guest using their own phone and using a device provided by the host?
Yes, many people are paranoid conspiracy theorists and some people should never leave home.
But this is about how Airbnb deals with things and hosts protecting themselves in case of a complaint.
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I also don’t know what an Echo Dot does in terms of privacy. My computer guy recommended thatI put in Apple HomePod minis because Apple does not 'listen in."
My impression is that many non-Apple products (even a Nest thermostat, I read?) listen in and the information is somehow used by the ‘supplier’ (so Amazon for Echo Dot). Who knows what Amazon does with that. information? I know some people object to that and will one to disconnect the device for that reason.
One thing, though, is that my understanding is that the Echo Dots doesn’t give YOU the ability to eavesdrop. You could configure it to ‘listen in’ to give it a command, or hear a command, but not eavesdrop. The question is whether what Amazon is doing ‘eavesdropping’?
To @muddy’s point I wouldn’t know what to disclose other than it is an Echo Dot because the privacy issues are arcane, and if the Nest example is illustrative we might not even understand all the privacy issues for years. The point is that the Host is not eavesdropping and cannot do so but I wouldn’t use the ‘eavesdrop’ word. I think saying that these are Dot Echos is enough.
My one bookingsdotcom stay was a Nov 09 home share booking on a hilltop above Yakima, WA. It was obviously their daughter’s room full of glass and ceramic horsies, and the first thing I did was to unplug the damned Alexa.
But it was cheap and available. And the view was great.
I won’t have any of those spy devices in my house and I would never have any kind of voice control device in a STR.
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+1 I’ve no idea what an Echo Dot is.
+1 my tin foil hat is very comfortable, never taking it off, haha.
I wouldn’t put it past my robot vacuum to be listening, haha. she always is trying to connect to my phone.
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You need a new computer guy. the HomePod minis are exactly like the Echo’s. They have the ability to “learn your voices”. They don’t do that by NOT saving recordings of you. Like some have already posted about the Echo’s, you can go into the HomePod’s and listen to the commands that were given to the HomePod (supposedly to help train it).
They also have Intercom capabilities. Which means you can listen to the guests live through the intercom.
Yes, I was trying to distinguish ‘listen in’ to commands – which both do – from ‘eavesdropping,’ which is listening to everything said, even without regard to ‘commands.’
I’m not well versed enough into the language and technology to get into a reasoned discussion on this. I suspect if we had an Amazon tech and an Apple tech on the thread they would be arguing with Apple saying that they product offered more privacy.
My personal sense is that Apple does offer more privacy – they make a big deal about this as part of their brand – but the question is whether many users care enough for that to outweigh other attributes. For example, the reviews I read said that other devices had better sound than Apple’s HomePod mini.
So I don’t think I need a new computer guy. I just might not be representing well the privacy advantages he thought that Apple offered. Nor is my impression that they are in any way ‘critical.’
Yes, the Apple HomePod mini’s have an intercom feature. I’m on a different network than the guest’s network. I don’t know if I could listen on any intercom messages if I switched networks.
But to your point and the point of this thread if I could (do you know?) then I should disclose that with something like “If you use the intercom feature of the Apple HomePod minis it’s possible for the Host to listen to intercom messages and commands although has no intention to do so.”
Do you and others here think that is the appropriate disclosure to make?
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