{"id":212201,"date":"2026-02-11T03:34:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T08:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/privacy-with-alexa-and-leftover-etiquette\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T04:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T09:55:09","slug":"privacy-with-alexa-and-leftover-etiquette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/privacy-with-alexa-and-leftover-etiquette\/","title":{"rendered":"Privacy with Alexa and Leftover Etiquette"},"content":{"rendered":"

Privacy with Alexa and Leftover Etiquette<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.eptrail.com\/2026\/02\/11\/asking-eric-alexas-eavesdropping-makes-for-uncomfortable-visits-with-friends\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-02-11 03:34:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.eptrail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Dear Eric:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have friends who have Alexa in their homes, and I understand that Alexa is a valuable tool when used as indicated. I also understand that it \u201clistens\u201d to any conversation carried on in its presence. This bothers me, because we often have intimate and\/or professional conversations.<\/p>\n

Is this a legitimate concern, or am I being paranoid. Also, if it is a legitimate concern, how do I address my concerns with friends?<\/p>\n

\u2013 No Eavesdropping<\/p>\n

Dear No Eavesdropping:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without getting too in the weeds about the ins and outs of smart devices, Alexa and devices like Google Assistant and Siri, are designed to listen for their \u201cwake\u201d word and then record, analyze and store what comes after. There are times when these devices \u201cmishear\u201d (for lack of a more accurate term) the sounds around them and wake. Maybe someone says \u201cAlexa\u201d on a TV show and the device in your house responds, or maybe someone in the room says something that sounds to the device like the wake word.<\/p>\n

Users can stop these devices from listening by turning off the microphone or they can make other privacy adjustments, like deleting recorded conversations. When you visit a home with a smart device, you can ask that your friends do this for your comfort.<\/p>\n

This is less about paranoia than it is about how we interact with the technology around us. While it is increasingly common to be monitored and tracked by smart devices and other tools, it isn\u2019t always a requirement. I\u2019m sometimes perplexed by how many machines in my house need access to the Wi-Fi in order to function, supposedly. Why must my toaster be surfing the web?<\/p>\n

It behooves all of us to think about how we want to engage with technology. We can\u2019t control what\u2019s going on with the cellphone in a stranger\u2019s pocket, but we can make requests of friends. There\u2019s no shame in saying to your friends, \u201cI know this is a useful tool and I don\u2019t begrudge you for having it. But for the length of our conversation, can it just…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Privacy with Alexa and Leftover Etiquette https:\/\/www.eptrail.com\/2026\/02\/11\/asking-eric-alexas-eavesdropping-makes-for-uncomfortable-visits-with-friends\/ Publish Date: 2026-02-11 03:34:00 Source Domain: www.eptrail.com Dear…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":212202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.eptrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/askingeric-feature_5d1b4a.jpg?w=1000&h=563","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212203,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212201\/revisions\/212203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}