Amazon recently confirmed that Alexa users will no longer be able to process requests locally, meaning your voice recordings will be stored on Amazon’s servers, no matter what you think. That’s not very good.
The good news is that you can use some major alternatives with better privacy settings. In each case, the setup is not necessarily ideal, as you are still talking about a microphone connected to the internet. But they are still better than what Amazon does. This is your choice.
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Apple’s HomePod smart device family is similar to Amazon Echo devices. You can ask questions and Siri will answer among other things. There is good news and bad news about all this work.
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According to Apple, some requests will be processed on the device, while others will be sent to Apple’s server via visual indicators, letting you know which one is which one. If you want to always stay away from Apple’s servers and do everything locally, it doesn’t seem like an option here. However, the privacy policy does guarantee that your audio data will not be stored by Apple unless you specifically choose this, which is the main thing we are looking for here.
If you want to feel better, Apple won’t associate any of your requested data (whether it’s a text transcript or a voice recording) with your name. It uses a random identifier and your request is separated from that identifier after six months.
In this regard, Google Nest devices also provide users with decent control. You can go to your event settings and select what is and is not saved to your Google account, which includes voice activity. It should be noted that Google does not retain recordings on its servers by default. There is also an option for automatic deletion in Google’s privacy suite in case you want to keep everything temporarily.
If you use a voice-based smart home device, there is actually no way to avoid inherent security risks. But at least in certain circumstances, the company’s hoarded audio requests violate your will, and both Apple and Google are better than Amazon at this point.
