Amazon unveils new privacy controls for smart home assistants

With the aim of addressing a number of recent privacy concerns, Amazon recently announced a number of new features for smart assistants to give to consumers more control on the data they share with Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, or Ring, Amazon’s home security cameras.  David Limp, the company’s hardware chief, presented a number of new features, which allow consumers for instance to auto-delete recordings or prevent Alexa from turning on at unintended times. According to CNET, Limp also introduced the ability for customers to say to their Echo speakers, “Alexa, tell me what you heard” and “Alexa, why did you do that?”, in order to increase transparency around what Alexa is listening to and why it responds in certain ways. According to the Guardian, Amazon has refined its “wake word” software to make it 50% more accurate. The company also created the new Alexa Communications for Kids to let parents pick which contacts their kids are allowed to talk to on the Echo Dot Kids Edition.