Amazon Echo Privacy Settings You Should Change Immediately

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While using voice services on the Echo is super convenient for controlling music, lights, and getting information, that ease of use comes with a complicated set of privacy compromises. A lot of users just plug in their Amazon Echo and start using it, without really considering the sophisticated systems for data collection and sharing that are operating in the background.

Putting a device in your living room that is designed to listen for a wake word will take some privacy away from you, but it’s a common mistake to think you’ve maintained privacy just by avoiding the wake word. Various default settings are active from the moment you plug the device in. The voice assistant, for example, is a proactive data collector that talks to your network and shares your information in ways you might never expect.

You need to control your speaker’s digital boundaries by adjusting the settings. Before you start using an Echo as intended, you should carefully think about how voice recordings are stored and the hidden permissions that allow others to interact with or access what’s happening around your device. There are a few settings that you don’t need at all, which pose big privacy concerns.

Sidewalk

Amazon Sidewalk turns your Echo into a gateway, broadcasting a shared network signal across your entire neighborhood. By default, this setup lets your device chew up a little bit of your Wi-Fi bandwidth to help neighboring devices (possibly total strangers) stay connected even when they move outside the range of their own router.

Amazon claims this…

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