Dot And Tap: Further Proof Amazon Wants A Place In Your Home
Amazon launches two new Internet-connected devices with the company's Alexa smart assistant.
LEARN MOREApril 26, 2017
Amazon's latest product is billed as your very own fashion assistant, but some customers may be wary of getting dressed in front of it.
The Amazon Echo Look is the latest in the line of electronic personal assistants connected to Amazon's Alexa artificial intelligence. It follows products like the Echo and Echo Dot.
The device can snap a picture of you every day to track what outfits you're wearing. It also has a feature called "Style Check" that compares your outfit to current trends and suggests ways to improve your fashion.
Echo Look's photo and video features can be fun. But it's coming out at a time when internet-connected devices can make some people nervous about privacy.
All of Amazon's internet-connected devices listen constantly for trigger words that will prompt them to start recording or streaming to Amazon's servers.
Ambient conversations are not stored or sent over the internet. Still, the recordings stored by the Amazon Echo have raised privacy concerns.
In 2016, police in Arkansas asked Amazon for data from an Echo device in connection with a killing that took place in the owner's home.
The audio sent to Amazon is encrypted, but hackers could still gain access to a user's Amazon account.
Sociology professor Zeynep Tufekci tweeted a thread criticizing other possible uses Amazon might have for the data it obtains.
With this data, Amazon won't be able to just sell you clothes or judge you. It could analyze if you're depressed or pregnant and much else. pic.twitter.com/irc0tLVce9
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) April 26, 2017
If all that creeps you out, the Echo Look does have a button on the side that turns off the microphone and camera.
