Saint Louis University Is Outfitting Student Living Spaces With Thousands of Echo Dots (techcrunch.com) 174
Saint Louis University announced this week a plan to outfit living spaces with 2,300 Echo Dots. The smart speakers will be ready by the time classes start later this month. TechCrunch reports: SLU is quick to note that it's "the first college or university in the country to bring Amazon Alexa-enabled devices, managed by Alexa for Business, into every student residence hall room and student apartment on campus." It's certainly not the first to adopt Amazon's smart speakers, but it's among the largest scale for this sort of deployment. While the product has become a mainstay in plenty of American homes, it does seem like an odd choice dorms and student campus. SLU has worked with Alexa for Business to create 100 custom questions, including, "What time does the library close tonight?" and "Where is the registrar's office?"
The company addressed [the privacy concerns] on a privacy page, writing: "Because of our use of the Amazon Alexa for Business (A4B) platform, your Echo Dot is managed by a central system dedicated to SLU. This system is not tied to individual accounts and does not maintain any personal information for any of our users, so all use currently is anonymous. Additionally, neither Alexa nor the Alexa for Business management system maintains recordings of any questions that are asked."
The company addressed [the privacy concerns] on a privacy page, writing: "Because of our use of the Amazon Alexa for Business (A4B) platform, your Echo Dot is managed by a central system dedicated to SLU. This system is not tied to individual accounts and does not maintain any personal information for any of our users, so all use currently is anonymous. Additionally, neither Alexa nor the Alexa for Business management system maintains recordings of any questions that are asked."
Alexa... (Score:5, Funny)
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Alexa, How many rounds does an AR-15 hold? (Score:2)
I bet they find a way to deanonymize that pretty damned quick
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It holds whatever the capacity of its magazine may be, plus one in the chamber. It's not a question with a single answer.
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Facepalm!
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Why does it hurt when I pee? [youtube.com]
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You just gotta think these things will be recording all the time regardless of what they're saying now.
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Alexa: "It ends."
Re: Alexa... (Score:2)
German bag? That's an unusual insult ...
That's not a negative (Score:1)
"Additionally, neither Alexa nor the Alexa for Business management system maintains recordings of any questions that are asked."
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Weasel words. The input is parsed and transcribed. Who needs a recording?
Lie words. I have a Dot. Using the Alexa app, I can listen to the recording of every time Alexa has woken up and thought she was asked something. I don't know what "Alexa Business" does, but Alexa certainly does make and keep recordings.
Or is there some new definition of "recording" where "a digitized copy of audio that can be played back later" does not count as a "recording"?
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First rape case in a dormitory with this system installed will make alexa forced to show if the accusation is correct or not. Unless of course the majority of cases will be dismissed because all parties involved were intoxicated to the point they did not know what was happening to them - who raped who is then a valid question and yet one that cannot be answered. Still for all other case of indecent conduct a consent can be determined.
Re:That's not a negative (Score:5, Funny)
I think a good test would be to have a really incriminating-sounding conversation in the dorms and see what red flags go up.
"Yeah, she kept screaming 'no', but I know she wanted it."
"Yeah, and then the bombs will go off. You got your ammo yet?"
"$50 will get you the exam ahead of time. $250 for the answers."
"Make America Great Again!"
Reminds me of the days when /. sigs were used to spam Echelon.
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I think a good test would be to have a really incriminating-sounding conversation in the dorms and see what red flags go up.
"Yeah, she kept screaming 'no', but I know she wanted it."
"Yeah, and then the bombs will go off. You got your ammo yet?"
"$50 will get you the exam ahead of time. $250 for the answers."
"Make America Great Again!"
Reminds me of the days when /. sigs were used to spam Echelon.
How does the "Echo gadget" contribute to a better education?
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How does the "Echo gadget" contribute to a better education?
What does that have to do with a University? They're there to crank as many kids through, pull in as much scratch as possible, and indoctrinate the next generation of young people. Education doesn't enter into the equation.
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Unless of course the majority of cases will be dismissed because all parties involved were intoxicated to the point they did not know what was happening to them - who raped who is then a valid question and yet one that cannot be answered.
Oh you sweet summer child. This situation has an answer: When in doubt, it's always the man's fault.
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You're assuming that the transcription is 100% all go the time and that the person will always use the same service to retry the query instead of going to a web browser.
Currently (Score:5, Interesting)
All use is currently anonymous. Let's just nudge that temperature a degree higher. You won't notice yet.
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Alexa why is my education so expensive? (Score:3, Insightful)
Why?
Re: Alexa why is my education so expensive? (Score:5, Informative)
Because your government decided to subsidize college education to the tune of 20k+ per student per year in the form of college loans. Colleges that used to cost 5k per year to attend are now 30k per year because the educators know you still have that original 5k + inflation.
Re:Alexa why is my education so expensive? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Because your university keeps adding nice to have features like Echo Dots instead of investing in actually teaching you something.
Whereas what you say is undeniably true; one could say that this has been fairly inexpensive advertising. As cheap as dots are commercially (frequently on sale $30 or less)- this probably cost SLU in bulk $20 each or less. If they have 5,000 dorm rooms that's $100k at most (I see they have about 13,000 students- some surely live off campus and the others I'm sure are two to a room- so they probably have less than 5,000 dorm rooms in reality).
$100k sounds a lot of money, but it's probably a fairly cheap a
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do want to bet double or nothing on your student loan?
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Teaching you something is completely orthogonal to their purpose.
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Students are surprised that costs have skyrocketed.
But muh college should free-e-e-e-eeee-eeeeeeee
As someone who benefited greatly from college in the late 1980s, but who, even at the time, saw how ridiculous things were getting, the current situation seems to have gone beyond absurd. It seems that providing a valuable education is the only thing they aren't doing.
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Come to think of it, I've never seen a male enter one either, but we have to show those North Carolina simpletons that we are progressive!
I lived in North Carolina for several years while growing up. I found North Carolinians to be mostly people of eminently good common sense. They may sometimes be simple, but it's the simplicity of knowing right from wrong, the simplicity of being honest or the simplicity of knowing how to barbecue correctly, or the simple logic of using "y'all" in a language that's unfo
Alexa why can't I rent my own apartment for less? (Score:2)
Alexa why can't I rent my own apartment for less? WITH OUT ROOM MATES + MY OWN BATHROOM?
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Alexa: State law and regulations passed by the board of trustees require that all Freshman or other students with less than 30 completed course hours attending public university live on campus, unless you are enrolled only part-time, married, age 21 years or older, have dependent children, live with a parent or guardian within a 25-mile radius of campus, or can show proof of a medical need preventing you from living in provided dorms.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Big Brother (Score:4, Informative)
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or, if it stresses you, you could cover thing the with a soundproofing box or substance, and go on with life.
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I never mentioned convenience. How hard is it to close your door again?
Personally, I will never have any of these stupid devices in my house, its easy enough to type what I need.
Brave New World, not Big Brother (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Big Brother (Score:5, Informative)
The school notes that students can also mute the microphone. Students can’t technically opt-out, but they can unplug the product and shove it in a drawer, turning it in at the end of the year. Just don’t use it as a hockey puck, because that’ll cost you.
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So... (Score:2)
So, Saint Louis "University" admits to the world that A) they're entirely irrelevant and B) they clearly know it, but C) are unable to think of any solutions to the problem other than unimaginative gimmicks that'll drive the "institution" into further irrelevance.
This is, of course, a real shocker to the rest of us.
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So, Saint Louis "University" admits to the world that A) they're entirely irrelevant and B) they clearly know it, but C) are unable to think of any solutions to the problem other than unimaginative gimmicks that'll drive the "institution" into further irrelevance.
So you're saying they are typical of universities.
A low tech solution (Score:5, Insightful)
The company addressed [the privacy concerns] on a privacy page
Personally, I would be more inclined to address the "privacy concerns" with a screwdriver or a baseball bat.
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Privacy Vacuum (Score:4)
Seriously.
This is all wrong. Young people will not understand what they are giving away here.
Entropy of the universe (Score:4, Funny)
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INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER
god damn yelling filter, fuck you when I can't even quote something accurately.
Tape over the mic (Score:4, Insightful)
There has to be a way to block the mic. Actively, a white noise generator right next to it. Passively, covering the mic so it can't hear anything.
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There is a mute button and you could always pull the usb powercord...
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Depends if you are muting a speaker or a microphone.
The button on a mixing console does exactly that: mutes that channel's mic.
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Heck the mute button on a phone does the same (picture of slash thru microphone with word "mute" above it).
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But I have to admit he HAD a point as being "mute" means not being to speak, and not not being able to hear.
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But is it really muted? :P
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Unplugging it would be so much easier.
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"Dude! Lets get high. Where can I plug in my vaper?"
"Just unplug the Dot and use that outle...."
Campus security shows up in 5 minutes.
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Vapers use batteries, and most of them charge off USB now.
A Smart Speakers Is...? (Score:2)
Listening Lamp... Attention Appliance
E-ear... Hailing Mic
Ear Hustler... Deaf Dongle
Sound Snagger... Noise Nabber
Utter Bank...?
*Grabs Title IX Paperwork* (Score:2)
*AHEM!*
"We're listening..."
This is creepy as hell. (Score:4, Interesting)
Disconnect the things, or failing that, put it in a soundproof box, or wrap it with duct tape. Lots of duct tape.
There should be a choice to install these things, an informed choice!
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you have an right to privacy in hotels rented room (Score:4)
you have an right to privacy in hotels rented rooms are the same.
Worst case some should sue for the right to not be forced to live on college campus
FERPA (Score:5, Interesting)
FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act):
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen... [ed.gov]
This school admin even asks how he can remove Alexa form the network:
https://community.spiceworks.c... [spiceworks.com]
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"A student has an Echo and adds the Canvas Skill to their Alexa account. Anyone (roommates, friends, colleagues) who is in proximity of that Echo can then ask Canvas about that students' grades."
A.
Yeah, this could happen.
From a developer of a Alexa Skill that tells you your grades:
https://community.canvaslms.co... [canvaslms.com]
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"A student has an Echo and adds the Canvas Skill to their Alexa account.
A choice made by the student. A poor choice, but still his choice. It is essentially no different than a student posting his grade reports on the building bulletin board.
They aren't student accounts for the SLU Dots. Students can run their own Dot and make stupid choices, but SLU hasn't made that choice for them.
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FERPA is a wonderful way to ignore parents calling with questions about their students.
Not sure if true but I was instructed to not even give away if their son/daughter attended the school; the reason given was there are parents out there who for whatever reason want to prevent their offspring from going to college, so the student deserves anonymity even from them.
Damn, I'm guessing the former Stasi/KGB (Score:4, Insightful)
are kicking themselves.
Just give the microphones a brandname and make it a lifestyle product, and people will PAY you to install them in their homes/workspaces.
Who knew people were this stupid? Fucking idiots.
"currently" (Score:5, Insightful)
What a strange word to choose to include in a sentence trying to reassure people about privacy.
if student loans had bankruptcy then the banks (Score:2)
if student loans had bankruptcy then the banks then will the schools you need to cut costs and not jack up rates / fees for this!
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But do they have money-back guarantees for grammar?
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I'd argue we have the rough equivalent of bankruptcy. Income based repayment and the whole 20 year forgiveness. As a bonus, they don't count for the whole once-every-seven years thing.
Jesus Christ (Score:5, Insightful)
I thought I was glad that there were no camera-phones during my stupid college years; this is so colossally bad ... I can only hope that there remains a faint flicker of resistance in today's youth, such that this spawns an entire generation of people adept and practiced at breaking ubiquitous surveillance.
I fear not, honestly.
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breaking is the right word.
just go around with a bat and a friend, practice those pitching and hitting skills. Any self righteous goody-goody who wants to stop you should have sense enough not to mouth off to a crazy motherfucker swinging a bat, amIright?
I can see it now (Score:5, Funny)
Hundreds of Echo Dots in a broom closet with am MP3 player looping Nickelback.
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Dear SLU... (Score:4, Insightful)
"1984" was a warning, not a proposal. Putting Orwell's telescreens (minus the screen) in everyone's room makes you look creepy. Should I report to Minitrue for debriefing?
Fixed Headline (Score:4, Informative)
Saint Louis University Is Outfitting Student Living Spaces With Thousands of Surveilance Bugs.
College students don't need privacy. (Score:2)
Student convicted... (Score:2)
Student convicted and expelled and blacklisted for being an ebul hax0r after unplugging one of them in 3... 2.... 1....
The fuck? (Score:2)
I already told me roommate I'd smash one if it was in the house. Fuck that nose. Disconnect it and throw it out your dorm room window. Do not want.
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I'm 54 years old and never heard of nasal intercourse.
So, is your roommates nose wide? deep? nice and tight? Because I'm guessing you're not...puny...but probably average sized at least.
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While the meaning of the word has changed to be similar to "docking", the word for this practice used to be "snoodling", and that has been around for decades now. The fact that you haven't previously heard of this indicates you didn't follow alt.tasteless back in the day.
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er, no, snoodling is placing penis head inside foreskin of another.
true I didn't follow alt.tasteless but I did have to work near marketing department, they're the scum of the earth. degenerates would be nauseated at their banter.
Awesome! (Score:2)
Laywers' opinions? (Score:2)
It also doesn't matter if conversations aren't "recorded" - all the law cares about is interception (and they are recorded - saved as text).
Lastly, it doesn't matter if the students all agree to the presence of these devices, that doesn't cover visitors.
So why isn't this illegal?
Re:Trust us,,no one is listening to you! (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, knowing that the platform is managed by SLU instead of Amazon would make me worry even more about the platform being abused.
I'm sure that Amazon has some safeguards in place about safe storage and destruction of voice recordings, but SLU's IT department? Some student intern will probably start using it to snoop on the ladies dorms to get the latest juicy gossip.
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I predict, six to twelve months from now:
“Oh, you mean those recordings. When we said things weren’t being recorded, naturally we weren’t referring to those...”
Re: Trust us,,no one is listening to you! (Score:2)
It doesnâ(TM)t say anything about it being managed by SLU. Only that it is a dedicated system, which I read to mean amazon is managing it as usual on a private server that is running only SLU queries.
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Yeah, knowing that the platform is managed by SLU instead of Amazon would make me worry even more about the platform being abused.
Especially given that the platform being "managed by SLU" is probably located not at the university, but rather on an AWS server. That would make TWO 'interested parties' who have everything they need to invade students' privacy with a few clicks of a mouse.
Re:Trust us,,no one is listening to you! (Score:4, Informative)
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Also, these echos appear to be contained inside SLU-branded cases, like the ones that the kids edition come in. What's to stop someone for swapping out the echo in some one else's room, to one that they have hacked or have control over? Should be trivial to remove the case from the original and plug in the hacked version.
Seems like it would be worse than if the whole system is monitored, because it would be directly targeting specific students.
Re:Just because it's "anonymous"... (Score:5, Interesting)
If you thought facial recognition was getting good, think about voice recognition.... that ostensibly isn't used.
Just that the questions have an IP address (dorm, library, etc.) time of day, context, and therefore can be fingerprinted.
This will not turn out well.
Re:Yuk (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd be pissed if I had already made plans to stay in one of their halls and they then pull this crap.
Yes, it would be very difficult to unplug it if you personally had a problem with the device.
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Yeah, if they don't want the University administration listening in on them 24/7, fuck them. God damn stupid entitled kids and their bullshit problems. I mean, it's not like their boomer grandparents are crashing western civilization against the rocks, leaving them with soulless corporate consumerism or anything. Bunch of god damn whiners.
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Unplugging it is easy.
I'd be more concerned about "lost" devices, and an unrelated flood of eBay listings...
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