Is Alexa Really Eavesdropping on You?

I've gone all-in on Amazon's line of Alexa-powered speakers, installing them throughout my home and buying them for family members. We use them to play music and news, tell jokes and get the weather. And I get to talk to a computer like I’m Captain Picard in Star Trek.

But stories like this one, in Gizmodo last week, suggest that the popular and inexpensive line of voice-activated speakers pose a threat to user privacy. The writer argues that devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home contain microphones that are "always on" and sending volumes of data back to their parent companies. These speakers might also make it possible for hackers and law enforcement authorities to drop a secret wiretap into your living room, the article says.