my family is moving into a much bigger house than we used to have. we use amazon echos as an intercom system through the announcement feature. because our house is bigger, i’m being forced to get one myself for my room. i haven’t needed one for years because i use their app on my phone and i can see their announcements as a notification and i can also kill off most of its tracking by DNS. unfortunately my parents don’t understand this and are forcing me to get one. what can i do to limit its tracking?
buddy i would if i could. unfortunately they are forcing me to have it on at all times. which is why im asking for suggestions
Put together a privacy and security presentation.
Does you family use password managers?
What do your parents do if one is incapacitated? The self-hosting community has discussions on managing this.
This is a great opportunity for you to learn a lot of stuff and show your parents how to approach security and privacy.
i haven’t needed one for years because i use their app on my phone and i can see their announcements as a notification and i can also kill off most of its tracking by DNS. unfortunately my parents don’t understand this Sounds like you have a reasonable, compatible alternative on your phone already. Will they even notice if you continue using this and never plug the new alexa in?
probably not. i might just not plug it in and see how it goes. if it doesn’t work out, i guess i’ll have to DNS block its tracking from a openwrt pi
Good plan A.
For a plan B, If your parents don't understand why privacy is important on the internet they probably won't understand why the echos in your room don't seem to work. Say it's wifi can't reach the router, bend the cable so many times the wires break, "accidentally" become super clumsy with it and knock it over a bunch. This is absolutely a first world problem, it requires a first world solution.
sorry for asking a question about privacy in a privacy community. i can’t just not use it because my parents are forcing me to use it. if i was allowed to unplug it, i would.
Do it anyways. Everyone has a right of privacy no matter the age.
I mean I desoldered the microphones from my fire tv cube. It had 8 separate mics throughout but it works fine without them, kind of a pain in the ass to do though.
Were I in that position, I would resist, just as much as if they were trying to put video cameras in my bathroom and bedroom.
I would suggest alternatives, and offer to research, order, and install them.
I would appeal to my parents' empathy, try to educate them on the risks of these corporate-controlled hackable devices bring with them, and on the negative impact that surveillance has on human development. I would try to persuade them, and if it came down to it, I would fight. I would look for allies to help: siblings, extended family members, school authorities, counselors... anyone whose views they might respect, both alone and in groups.
If they stubbornly insisted, I would continue to bring it up regularly, both in private and in public. I would make sure that it was a constant drain on their time, and a constant source of resentment, and an issue that they would have to justify not only to themselves, but to the community around them.
And, if I somehow couldn't keep it out of my space or unpowered, I would open it up and disconnect the microphone, or perhaps wire a physical switch to allow connecting it only when needed. (By the way, reed switches exist that can be concealed within a device and activated from the outside with a magnet.)
And then I would continue to fight.
