…and a grand plot idea for a novel.
by Rick Blechta
Many of us are using AI devices in our homes. “Oh,” you say, “I don’t have any of that stuff!”
If you own an Amazon Alexa or have an Apple product and use Siri, not to mention Google Assistant, you’ve got AI in your house. Have a smart thermostat, smart anything for that matter and you’ve got AI. Bet some of you didn’t know that.
Now here’s where it gets truly frightening. All of those devices are transmitting the data they collect to the corporations that produce them.
Don’t believe me? Read this: “Alexa has been eavesdropping on you this whole time”
Pretty frightening, isn’t it? The really scary thing to me is you can’t turn off the data collection if you want to keep using these products. Convenient how they built in that functionality, isn’t it? And we’re supposed to blindly trust these corporations. “We only use the data to improve our products, to help them learn!” Yeah, and I have a bridge in Brooklyn you might like to purchase. What’s to stop individual employees to overhear something valuable and then use if for nefarious purposes? This could well be the basis of “the perfect crime”. If that’s the case, it may well have taken place.
So it doesn’t take much imagination to see how all this collection of data could form the basis of a strong plot for a thriller, cozy, police procedural, whatever. This stuff is just made for crime fiction.
Okay, everyone! Scenario time. Work up an “elevator pitch” for your proposed novel and share it with us.
As for me, they can keep their smart houses. I’m perfectly happy living in a stupid one.
5 comments:
I would have an airB&B host with a warped personality equip the house/apartment with smart devices and then use the collected info to persecute the tenant later, anonymously, just for the fun of it. (Does anyone remember a short story years ago about a woman who sent damaging anonymous notes to people in town, was found out, and had her prize flower garden destroyed as announced by an anonymous note?)
But hey, what do I know; I have no smart accessories and live in a stupid house (thanks for that lovely term!) and plan to keep it that way.
Interesting topic. California has a bill under consideration called the Anti-Eavesdropping Act that would limit how companies can collect and save recordings. https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/califonia-ab-1395-law-to-limit-amazon-alexa-recordings/
And thanks for that information, Sybil!
Anna, I like your thoughts. If you have a smartphone, unless you turned it off, it's broadcasting wherever you are at the moment -- assuming it's with you.
Rick, even my phone is stupid! But if I upgrade, I'll be forewarned. Thanks.
Anna,
You're more than welcome.
Had a call at 6:45 a.m. this morning. The guy on the line, with a thick foreign accent told me that something had been purchased on my VISA card for $380, and was this me. I said (sleepily), "Which one? I have two VISA accounts." (I don't.) He countered with, "Do you have both of them with you at the moment?" I said, "No. Just tell me which bank the account you're talking to me about is attached to. His answer after a hesitation was, "CIBC." I made a sound like a buzzer going off. "Wrong answer, Bozo. CIBC is attached to MasterCard. Better luck next time, AS-----!"
So I spoke to VISA later in the day. "Yes the scammers are calling people in the middle of the night to catch them drowsy and hopefully unaware." I answered, "They couldn't even get that right. I usually get up between 6:30 and 7:00."
There be sharks in these waters…
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