How Amazon Echo Listens And What It Stores

Can Amazon’s Echo speaker really be a witness to a murder?

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Authorities investigating the death of an Arkansas man found floating face-up in a hot tub believe that Amazon might have some evidence, given how Echo listens for commands and questions and communicates with Amazon’s servers to respond.

Details are scant. Here’s what’s known:

HOW ECHO WORKS

Echo is designed to be the hub of the smart home . The software that powers it, Alexa, is constantly listening for commands such as a request to turn on the lights or play music, or questions such as what the weather’s like. Though it’s possible to do many of these tasks using a smartphone app, issuing a voice command keeps your hands free.

IS IT SNOOPING?

No, according to Amazon. Although Alexa is always listening, Amazon says Alexa ignores what’s said until you trigger it with the “wake word” Alexa (you can change the wake word to Amazon or Echo). Only then does the Echo pass on the command or question to Amazon’s servers for processing. A blue light on the Echo comes on to let you know that’s happening.