[HN Gopher] An analysis of Amazon Echo's network behavior
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       An analysis of Amazon Echo's network behavior
        
       Author : pramodbiligiri
       Score  : 86 points
       Date   : 2021-08-25 20:18 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arxiv.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arxiv.org)
        
       | einpoklum wrote:
       | > Overall, we find the Echo to be a well-designed device from the
       | network communication perspective.
       | 
       | It seems the article does not concern itself with what the device
       | tells Amazon about you, but rather whether it ensures only Amazon
       | will be able to eavesdrop on you and that they do so reliably.
       | What a "refreshing" perspective.
        
         | ec109685 wrote:
         | What are they supposed to say if it is a well-designed device?
        
           | ilyakiselev wrote:
           | Exactly.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | State that it is a well designed privacy invading device?
        
             | prepend wrote:
             | I think it's important to distinguish expected privacy vs
             | actual. The fact that I allow it to send my queries to
             | Amazon isn't a privacy issue.
             | 
             | If the network behavior showed it was sending data it's not
             | supposed to do, that would be noteworthy.
             | 
             | So this paper is helpful in this regard (in addition to
             | other material).
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | iamstupidsimple wrote:
             | This was a computing paper trying to prod for security
             | holes, not a political statement. It's not relevant the
             | device itself might be problematic, only that it's security
             | is sound.
        
         | mavhc wrote:
         | It's a device to make it easy to communicate with Amazon, if
         | you didn't want to do that why would you buy it?
        
           | bigyikes wrote:
           | I don't know anybody who has one to "communicate with
           | Amazon". They have one to listen to music, make grocery
           | lists, set timers, etc. Who wants to communicate with Amazon?
        
             | [deleted]
        
       | banana_giraffe wrote:
       | It'd be interesting to compare this work with a similar dive into
       | an Echo 3rd gen or later that adds support for Sidewalk.
        
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       (page generated 2021-08-25 23:00 UTC)