Yes, Amazon Echo Is an Ad Machine
Amazon Echo might be &quot;an ad machine&quot; but that article is a good example of business-minded misdirection: using a relatively minor problem -- persistent advertising -- to deflect attention away from a much greater problem -- persistent spying -- where businesses are the main beneficiaries of the misdirection.<p>The real problem with Echo is that it&#x27;s an always-on microphone connected to a networked computer that runs proprietary software (see <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gnu.org&#x2F;proprietary&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gnu.org&#x2F;proprietary&#x2F;</a> for how proprietary software is often malware). Users have no software freedom to inspect what the software on the Echo does, change the Echo&#x27;s software to make the Echo do something different, or share the Echo software (whether modified or not) to help their community. Even if Echo&#x27;s software comes with some form of user controls, those controls are implemented with proprietary software, software users cannot trust. No matter how technical and willing a user is to improve their Echo device to meet their needs, the permission to do so is purposefully missing. Amazon does not respect a user&#x27;s software freedom. Therefore there&#x27;s no good reason to trust the Echo. For all we know Echo is now or at some later time will relay whatever is within mic range to someplace else, thus presenting a constant threat to one&#x27;s privacy.<p>Nobody needs Echo; it does nothing users weren&#x27;t perfectly fine to do another way by visiting a website to place orders. But one should reconsider doing business with Amazon at all (see <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stallman.org&#x2F;amazon.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stallman.org&#x2F;amazon.html</a> for details).