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Is this how the machines take over?

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swill453
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Is this how the machines take over?

#468867

Postby swill453 » December 28th, 2021, 7:10 pm

An Amazon Echo told a child to touch a coin to the prongs of a half-inserted plug.

Amazon said it has now "fixed the error".

Yeah, right.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-59810383

Scott.

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468869

Postby UncleEbenezer » December 28th, 2021, 7:18 pm

Wouldn't it be easier with a regular table knife?

PhaseThree

Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468872

Postby PhaseThree » December 28th, 2021, 7:41 pm

"Is this how the machines take over?"

Absolutely not - this is the modern version of natural selection.

If people are dumb enough to :-
a) Have these things in their homes and activate them
b) Do what they're told without question

Then we are better off as a species without them.

pje16
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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468885

Postby pje16 » December 28th, 2021, 9:07 pm

PhaseThree wrote:"Is this how the machines take over?"

Absolutely not - this is the modern version of natural selection.

If people are dumb enough to :-
a) Have these things in their homes and activate them
b) Do what they're told without question

Then we are better off as a species without them.

Excuse me ....It is NOT dumb to have one
Doing what you're told without question applies to anything in life

PhaseThree

Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468887

Postby PhaseThree » December 28th, 2021, 9:17 pm

pje16 wrote:
PhaseThree wrote:"Is this how the machines take over?"

Absolutely not - this is the modern version of natural selection.

If people are dumb enough to :-
a) Have these things in their homes and activate them
b) Do what they're told without question

Then we are better off as a species without them.

Excuse me ....It is NOT dumb to have one
Doing what you're told without question applies to anything in life

Clearly our opinions differ. Personally I will not have corporate spyware embedded in my home.

XFool
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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468889

Postby XFool » December 28th, 2021, 9:51 pm

PhaseThree wrote:"Is this how the machines take over?"

Absolutely not - this is the modern version of natural selection.

If people are dumb enough to :-
a) Have these things in their homes and activate them
b) Do what they're told without question

Fortunately, the child in question was not dumb enough, according to her mother:

BBC News

However, she said her daughter was "too smart to do something like that".

pje16
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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468892

Postby pje16 » December 28th, 2021, 10:01 pm

PhaseThree wrote:
pje16 wrote:
PhaseThree wrote:"Is this how the machines take over?"

Absolutely not - this is the modern version of natural selection.

If people are dumb enough to :-
a) Have these things in their homes and activate them
b) Do what they're told without question

Then we are better off as a species without them.

Excuse me ....It is NOT dumb to have one
Doing what you're told without question applies to anything in life

Clearly our opinions differ. Personally I will not have corporate spyware embedded in my home.

I'm not paranoid
There are milkions in circluation and I really don't think they pick litte old me out...
or are they out to get me :lol:

PhaseThree

Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468898

Postby PhaseThree » December 28th, 2021, 10:44 pm

pje16 wrote:
PhaseThree wrote:
pje16 wrote:Excuse me ....It is NOT dumb to have one
Doing what you're told without question applies to anything in life

Clearly our opinions differ. Personally I will not have corporate spyware embedded in my home.

I'm not paranoid
There are milkions in circluation and I really don't think they pick litte old me out...
or are they out to get me :lol:


They never are - until they are . How many of these things do you think there are in Belarus, Burma or Xinjiang province at the moment ?
I would love to believe that no-one in the UK is being monitored with these things, but I have no reason to believe that this is the case. (I've Too many clever friends working for the government in Gloucestershire).

In George Orwell 's 1984 all rooms had surveillance devices installed by the government. The only difference nowadays is that people are paying to install these devices themselves in the mistaken belief that they will only listen when they are told to.

Anyway just my minority, paranoid view of the world, and remember I don't live in quiet, suburban England.
I'm sure they are not out to get you (yet) and that you can continue to safely play with the socket should you choose.- Darwin's representative will be along shortly :D :D

mc2fool
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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468900

Postby mc2fool » December 28th, 2021, 11:13 pm

PhaseThree wrote:
pje16 wrote:
PhaseThree wrote:Clearly our opinions differ. Personally I will not have corporate spyware embedded in my home.

I'm not paranoid
There are milkions in circluation and I really don't think they pick litte old me out...
or are they out to get me :lol:


They never are - until they are . How many of these things do you think there are in Belarus, Burma or Xinjiang province at the moment ?
I would love to believe that no-one in the UK is being monitored with these things, but I have no reason to believe that this is the case. (I've Too many clever friends working for the government in Gloucestershire).

In George Orwell 's 1984 all rooms had surveillance devices installed by the government. The only difference nowadays is that people are paying to install these devices themselves in the mistaken belief that they will only listen when they are told to.

Anyway just my minority, paranoid view of the world, and remember I don't live in quiet, suburban England.
I'm sure they are not out to get you (yet) and that you can continue to safely play with the socket should you choose.- Darwin's representative will be along shortly :D :D

Of course they're out to get you ... it's a further source to take personal profiling of you for marketing purposes even deeper for targeting advertising selling to you.

You are the product.

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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468901

Postby AsleepInYorkshire » December 28th, 2021, 11:25 pm

pje16 wrote:
PhaseThree wrote:"Is this how the machines take over?"

Absolutely not - this is the modern version of natural selection.

If people are dumb enough to :-
a) Have these things in their homes and activate them
b) Do what they're told without question

Then we are better off as a species without them.

Excuse me ....It is NOT dumb to have one
Doing what you're told without question applies to anything in life

Hi pje,

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas?

I'm not a fan of Amazon by any stretch of the imagination. Shameful admission - one of my pensions has a small amount of their shares (hypocrisy at it's best I know :oops: ). In the early 000's they were found guilty of price rigging their customers. They had one price for "newbies" and a more expensive price for regulars.

Fool me once shame on you ... fool me twice, shame on me. I regard Amazon as a hostile sales company.

That aside even though they are an insignificant part of my holdings I would still like to see them prosper :oops:

Take care and may I suggest we look forward to 2022. In fairness it's not as if we can go back and replay 2021 :lol:

Take care

AiY

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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468913

Postby jfgw » December 29th, 2021, 12:18 am

I am not suggesting that you try the challenge but, if this was in the UK, I would not expect any harm to occur. Sleeved 13A plugs and their respective sockets are very safe.

If you want to make 13A sockets more dangerous, fit socket covers of the type sold to stop children poking things into the holes. (These covers are banned on NHS premises.)

You could try this for a challenge:
Cut open the power lead to the Amazon Echo, and separate the wires. Strip the insulation off the ends with your teeth.
Open the shutters on a 13A socket. You can usually do this using one of those socket covers upside-down. The cover will either bend sufficiently or break, allowing the earth pin to go in far enough to operate the shutter. (This does not work with all sockets.)
Now poke the wires into the socket...


Julian F. G. W.

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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468915

Postby Mike4 » December 29th, 2021, 12:36 am

PhaseThree wrote:In George Orwell 's 1984 all rooms had surveillance devices installed by the government. The only difference nowadays is that people are paying to install these devices themselves in the mistaken belief that they will only listen when they are told to.


This is IT, exactly. We know they listen all the time or they would not respond to the voice command "Hey Alexa" or "Hey, Siri".

The next small step is not just listening but recording everything they hear. "So what?" one might ask and there is no harm until, at some point in the future, a more hostile, extreme government acquires power and their new police state starts reviewing all the old recordings of stuff you said five and ten years ago. Some of it could easily be terminally damning, and that's the end of you.

On a more prosaic level this is why "Smart Meters" are a Bad Thing from a civil liberties point of view. By getting one you give some future police state the ability to cut off your electricity at the click of a mouse somewhere should you do or say something to upset your political masters.

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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468983

Postby TUK020 » December 29th, 2021, 11:49 am

PhaseThree wrote:
pje16 wrote:
PhaseThree wrote:Clearly our opinions differ. Personally I will not have corporate spyware embedded in my home.

I'm not paranoid
There are milkions in circluation and I really don't think they pick litte old me out...
or are they out to get me :lol:


They never are - until they are . How many of these things do you think there are in Belarus, Burma or Xinjiang province at the moment ?
I would love to believe that no-one in the UK is being monitored with these things, but I have no reason to believe that this is the case. (I've Too many clever friends working for the government in Gloucestershire).

In George Orwell 's 1984 all rooms had surveillance devices installed by the government. The only difference nowadays is that people are paying to install these devices themselves in the mistaken belief that they will only listen when they are told to.

Anyway just my minority, paranoid view of the world, and remember I don't live in quiet, suburban England.
I'm sure they are not out to get you (yet) and that you can continue to safely play with the socket should you choose.- Darwin's representative will be along shortly :D :D

I told my wife I was uncomfortable with our every word being recorded and logged by GCHQ.
She laughed, and said I was being paranoid.
I shrugged sheepishly and laughed.
Alexa laughed.........

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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468984

Postby bungeejumper » December 29th, 2021, 11:52 am

Our next door neighbour is called Alexa. For some reason, she says she doesn't want the listening gizmo in her kitchen, or indeed in her life at all. :lol: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technolo ... hole-time/

Reminds me of the story I heard about someone who had a French family living in the house while they were away on holiday. After the owners' return, they found themselves being buzzed by Google adverts in the French language. So how did that happen, hmmmmm? Damn that Echo box.

And didn't Amazon openly admit that they had people who were paid to listen to general conversations in people's houses, via the Echo box? Hey, never mind that your they can hear you having sex. I mean, come on, as long as they can't identify you, where's the harm in that? And if they did misbehave with the data they've got about your personal (ahem) preferences, could you prove it?

BJ

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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#468985

Postby Mike4 » December 29th, 2021, 11:59 am

TUK020 wrote:I told my wife I was uncomfortable with our every word being recorded and logged by GCHQ.
She laughed, and said I was being paranoid.
I shrugged sheepishly and laughed.
Alexa laughed.........



An appropriate time to wheel this one out I think!


Image

pje16
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Re: Is this how the machines take over?

#469008

Postby pje16 » December 29th, 2021, 1:44 pm

AsleepInYorkshire wrote:
pje16 wrote:
PhaseThree wrote:"Is this how the machines take over?"

Absolutely not - this is the modern version of natural selection.

If people are dumb enough to :-
a) Have these things in their homes and activate them
b) Do what they're told without question

Then we are better off as a species without them.

Excuse me ....It is NOT dumb to have one
Doing what you're told without question applies to anything in life

Hi pje,

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas?

I'm not a fan of Amazon by any stretch of the imagination. Shameful admission - one of my pensions has a small amount of their shares (hypocrisy at it's best I know :oops: ). In the early 000's they were found guilty of price rigging their customers. They had one price for "newbies" and a more expensive price for regulars.

Fool me once shame on you ... fool me twice, shame on me. I regard Amazon as a hostile sales company.

That aside even though they are an insignificant part of my holdings I would still like to see them prosper :oops:

Take care and may I suggest we look forward to 2022. In fairness it's not as if we can go back and replay 2021 :lol:

Take care

AiY

Yes thanks AiY I did
I know it wasn't easy for you but I hope you did manage to enjoy some of it
I got all my family's gifts from Amazon and do spend quite a bit on their site !
Prime makes it so easy :D
I remember 12 months ago saying 2021 will be better than 2020, got that one a bit wrong !!!!

all the best for 2022 - no more detailed presription than that :roll:
cheers
Paul


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