There has been a lot of articles about the privacy concerns attached to devices like Alexa and the Google assistant on your smartphone. This article (Who’s Listening When You Talk to Your Google Assistant?) made me think about all of the personal information that is discussed in my home within range of my phone.
The article highlighted a couple of examples of information such as an address, that the wife and husband were going to be grandparents and one case where the woman may have been in real physical danger.
The targeted ads already freak me out and make it difficult to keep search history a secret even after I’ve deleted it and cleared my cache.
What if one of these devices overheard you looking for a gift for someone and the next time you picked up your phone or logged onto your computer a list of potential gifts with links and prices came up?
Or
What if the device overheard an argument and 911 is alerted. The police show up on your doorstep without you or any neighbors calling them.
Or
A stalker taps into the system and now knows every thought you have spoken out loud and “secret admirer” gifts start showing up and they are exactly what you thought about ordering the night before.
Or
What if police use these listening devices to catch criminals before they act?
Or
What if one of these devices protects a child from a fire or possible kidnapper in the your home?
Who wants to talk more about how you can use this idea in your current or next story?

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