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Amazon Alexa Sends Family's Private Conversation to Contact

Amazon reportedly confirmed what happened, and apologized to the family profusely.

 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

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Having a private conversation? You might want to step away from your Amazon smart speaker.

A family in Portland says their Amazon Echo recently recorded a private conversation and sent it to a random person on their contact list. "My husband and I would joke and say I'd bet these devices are listening to what we're saying," the woman, identified as Danielle, told Seattle news station KIRO 7.

According to the report, the family had outfitted every room in their home with an Echo device so they could control their heat, lights, and security system with Alexa voice commands. Two weeks ago, Danielle received a disturbing call from one of her husband's employees.

"The person ... said, 'unplug your Alexa devices right now,'" Danielle said. "'You're being hacked.'"

The man on the other end of the line informed the family that he had received audio files of a conversation about hardwood floors seemingly recorded inside their home without their knowledge. Danielle called Amazon, which reportedly investigated the incident, confirmed what happened, and apologized profusely.

"They said 'our engineers went through your logs, and they saw exactly what you told us… and we're sorry,'" the woman told KIRO 7. "He apologized like 15 times in a matter of 30 minutes and he said we really appreciate you bringing this to our attention, this is something we need to fix!"

Amazon did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment, but a spokesperson explained what happened to Wired:

"Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like 'Alexa.' Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a 'send message' request. At which point, Alexa said out loud 'To whom?' At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customer's contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, '[contact name], right?' Alexa then interpreted background conversation as 'right.'"

Amazon told Wired it is "evaluating options to make this case even less likely." Wired likened the incident to "the Echo equivalent of a butt-dial."

The incident comes after some Alexa device users recently reported hearing random laughter from the virtual assistant. Amazon said the creepy giggles occurred because the virtual assistant mistakenly heard the phrase "Alexa, laugh," and promised to fix the problem.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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