Alexa Reporting Home Conversations? updates

[StanleyHogan]

I just stumbled upon your old post about Alexa reporting home conversations and it caught my attention. I haven't heard any official reports about devices like Alexa, Google Home, or Siri recording private convos and reporting them to the VA Inspector General.

[broncovet]

Stanley, Welcome to hadit.  This was a very old thread, which I felt deserved some attention.  To read the previous thread, follow this link.  

With the most recent "AI" craze, its a great point that we need to be careful what we say even in our own home with much of the new technology.  (Alexa, Siri, ask google, etc).  

This emphasizes what I have said all along: 

Quote

Dont lie to VA, and dont exaggerate your symptoms.  

This said, dont forget about the part where many Vets advocates advise Veterans to "describe symptoms on their WORST day", not the best day.  Nearly everyone has good days and bad days.  

The regulations, posted below, explain that, in order to reduce you the VA not only has to show you "actually improved, but that improvement is "sustained".   

In English this means:

     Ok, so on Thursday, you wake up in the middle of the night and almost try to kill your wife, as you are having a night terror recalling a PTSD event in war, where you were captured or about to be captured by the enemy.  

      On the following Saturday, you go to your daughter's birthday party, and have a great time, laughing and enjoying the company of your family.  

      So, did you "actually improve" under ordinary conditions of life, because you had a great time, full of laughter at a birthday party?  Probably not.  This is probably not sustained improvement, dont expect a severe case of PTSD to disappear in a week.  

       Another example, I have a rather severe hearing loss.  Does this mean I can hear "nothing" all the time, that Im deaf?  No.  For me, it means that I have to have a quiet enviroment, free from other conversations, traffic noise, fan motor noise, and just the hustle and bustle noise that occurs almost constantly..even at night, my AC or heater blower motor comes on and drounds out a lot of the sounds.  

       So, if I go to a quiet place and have a converssation with my wife, where I can see her face and read her lips, and I can understand and relate to much of this, does this mean my. hearing loss has improved?  No.  It means I went to a lot of trouble, took my spouse to a quiet but intimate place, where we could communicate well.  

      However, I cant do this at work.  There are always others talking, people are busy and can not/do not face me when they speak, and my boss barks out orders from the next room and wonders why I cant hear him and comply.  

      When they do a hearing test, its i n a sound proof room.  But we dont live in a sound proof world.  Your audiologist understands this, and does a test to determine your level of hearing loss.  

       Many times I have had people "not be able to tell" Im hearing impaired.  Why?  Well we have a conversation where the speaker faces me, and I can read lips, and there are no other sound distractions.  This especially works when the speaker has a loud, bold voice.  

       But this is not my work world, where people are busy doing their job, and your boss does not want to take time to write down each instruction he gives you..he just wonders why you did not comply, assuming you heard all of the conversation, when you did not.  

       

[Dustoff1970]

Be careful what you say out loud in yours or anyone's home or autos that may have any type of recording device such as alexa, Zoom, cell phones, etc.  Recent news accounts revealing Alexa ratting out users conversations to other organizations. 

Also AI can and has mimicked people voices and photos to falsely project those persons as saying and doing things they never did.  But everybody loves to suck up to the latest and greatest tech gadgets to impress their friends.  So be it.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Dustoff1970