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Ask HN: Alexa left me a creepy message for somebody else. Anybody else had this?

23 points by escapologybb ↗ HN
Hi HN!

So, I've just had the fright of my life when I tried to pick up some messages left on my Amazon Echo. There were indeed messages, couple of delivery notifications and a gem saying:

"Hello, I can see you. Are you okay?"

Except the person sending the message is completely unknown to me and to add to the whole Black Mirror caste my afternoon is apparently taking, the voice speaking those words were that of a young girl.

I have a recording on my iPhone but for obvious reasons I am reluctant to post it on the Internet, but I was wondering if this is widespread or just me?

Thanks.

(I hope my heart rate returns to normal soon)

10 comments

[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 43.1 ms ] thread
ToFab123
Since you are here you are aware that it is broadcasting back to mothership to an application that, like all other applications, contains bug. Bug that send audio from strangers to you. The same bugs that probably send some of your audio to other strangers. If even there are no bugs and nothing is being sent to any strangers by mistake, it is at the end of the day you that has decided, by own free will, to place an internet connected audio recording device in you're room. And now you are shocked that it is sending audio to strangers. A device where it is no secret that audio is being listen to by the manufacturer. If you have any issues with that you audio is being send to others (strangers or employees of amazon, Google, others) you should throw you device into the trash where thar spy device belong
croo
Now look I know you are asking this because you frightened and want to feel that what happened to you is normal. But there are two possible cases : Either someone called you and left a message as a bad prank or the software malfunctioned and sent a random message belonging to someone else to you.

Which one scares you more?

quaquaqua1
Sounds like someone is trying to play a prank on Echo owners. I doubt an actual child is trying to contact you and I'm not sure why Amazon would want to generate such a message to users.

Your device hasn't been paranormally occupied either, it's merely just playing audio that someone felt like sending to you (and possibly others).

dmitripopov
A bug/prank/mistake as stated above. It would have been a lot creepier if limited to the first sentence only.
kerkeslager
This is just aesthetically creepy. The real creepy thing is that you have a bug in your home that records audio and sends it to Amazon.
Throw_Away_6389
You do probably have a bug in your pocket that also listens to voice commands.
kerkeslager
That's true, but sending the voice commands to Google/Apple for processing isn't fundamental to the functioning of the phone. I can and do use a phone without ever using any voice commands, and at least on standard distributions, I've never heard of anyone packet sniffing and finding that voice is recorded and sent out when someone isn't using voice commands. Unlike Alexa, being a bug isn't inherent to a phone's fundamental function.

Certainly phone security is a problem, but let's not pretend it's as fundamental a problem as Alexa's complete lack of even pretense of security.

karmakaze
Yes and I'm uncomfortable that the software to do this is even on my device. It's hard to tell if it's 100% disabled and stays that way with updates.
orangetang
Sounds like a prank. Do you know the range of the Bluetooth on Alexa? Does your living situation allow for that range to be accessible from those outside your house?