Jul 04, 2019 12:00:00

Alexa keeps 'copy' of user voice indefinitely, there is no point in deleting voice data

Amazon's children's voice-enabled device 'Echo Dot Kids' collects and records children's reading, watching, and purchasing habits and keeps them indefinitely, and transcripts are not deleted even if the parents delete voice data The problem of ... was pointed out

and became a topic in May 2019 for violating the online privacy protection law of children. Amazon, being asked to respond to the US Senate on this matter, admits that the transcript will not be deleted on June 28, 2019 and explains the content.

Amazon Senator Coons__ Response Letter__6.28.19 [3]. Pdf
(PDF file) https://www.coons.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Amazon%20Senator%20Coons__Response%20Letter__6.2.18%5B3%5D.pdf

Amazon Alexa keeps your data with no expiration date, and shares it too-CNET
https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-alexa-keeps-your-data-with-no-expiration-date-and-shares-it-too/

Voice-enabled devices and privacy issues have long been pointed out, and in May 2019 the news was that 'Alexa keeps its transcript even if the user deletes the data.' . In this letter , Senator Chris Delaus of the United States in the letter to CEO Jeff Bezos of Amazon, how long does Alexa keep the audio recording and its transcript? And, asked the use of the data.

Mr. Coons closed the response on June 30th, Amazon's public policy officer

Brian Heussmann said on June 28 'Amazon keeps transcripts and voice records indefinitely, and users It will only be removed when manually deleting it. ' He also said Amazon 'is continually working to keep transcripts from remaining on Alexa's other storage systems.' On the other hand, Hughsman admits that there are transcripts that remain even after the user removes the audio.

According to Hughsman, Amazon and Alexa skills developers can save transcripts when users order a pizza with Alexa or arrange a dispatch service. This means that Amazon and Alexa can hold almost all personal information of users' purchase records. Also, information such as memoirs, schedules, and reminders that Alexa remembers will continue to be kept as 'the customer should not want to delete the underlying data or do not let Amazon perform the requested task'. You Amazon also explains that transcripts are used to train voice assistants.

On the other hand, according to Koons, 'Amazon's answer indicates that transcripts of conversations that the user has with Alexa may not be deleted from all Amazon servers.' More importantly, this data is shared with third parties It's unclear how much it is being done and how the third party uses and controls the information. '

In addition, transcript data is not anonymized, but is in a state of being tied to a user account.