{"id":23320,"date":"2023-02-23T22:50:18","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T06:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/?p=23320"},"modified":"2024-01-25T01:13:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T09:13:07","slug":"smart-speaker-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/smart-speaker-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Smart Speaker Privacy Might Be the Next Big Data Collection Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was over five years ago that we first warned about an imminent invasion of \u201clistening, eavesdropping, spying things<\/a>\u201d in the form of so-called \u201csmart\u201d speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cosy term \u201csmart\u201d somewhat obscures a device capable to process and to respond to spoken commands, and these commands can easily be in the form of a recording. While the routine command can be send from the device\u2019s home or just before you leave office, the cloud computing systems that control the smart speakers can easily do the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At their heart, then, smart speakers are surveillance devices for the companies that supply them \u2013 predominantly Amazon, Google, and Apple. The problem is that most of these devices are not profitable yet. Couple this with a context where everyone\u2019s looking to have a healthy balance sheet\u2026 and smart speaker privacy might become a big issue really fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smart Speakers: How It Started<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Amazon was the first to create a mass market smart speaker<\/a>, in 2014. The entry of Google in 2016 introduced some competition, but failed to dislodge Amazon from its leading position: Google sold only 400,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2016, while Amazon sold over 4.1 million systems. Things have moved on<\/a> considerably since then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[From] only 2 players in 2016 to over 43 major and local players until July 2022. However, the market is currently being dominated by only 6 players such as Amazon, Google, Baidu, Alibaba, Xiaomi, and Apple. Rest of the players in the global smart speaker market are holding less than 10% of market share. As of 2021, Amazon Sold over 40 million units of Alexa and Eco, and Google sold more than 35 million units, followed by Baidu (~22 million units), Alibaba (~19 million units), Xiaomi (9.8 million units), and Apple (~15.78 million).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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In its report<\/a>, SkyQuest wrote that \u201cdemand for smart speaker market is still high\u201d, and that \u201cmajor players are continuing to invest in new technologies\u201d. That was back in August last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, there has been an important development in the smart speaker sector. In October 2022, Google announced that Google Assistant, the voice recognition system that it uses on its own smart speaker and other hardware systems, would be less of a priority<\/a> in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it has not given any details as to why that is happening, an announcement by Amazon a month later provides some clear hints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smart Speakers Are Not Profitable\u2026 Yet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to a post on Ars Technica<\/a>, Amazon\u2019s smart speakers are costing the company billions of dollars a year. That\u2019s despite the fact that the Amazon Echo line is one of the company\u2019s best-selling products. Apparently, the systems are sold at cost, in the hope that profits would be made in the form of the smart speaker services that people would pay for afterwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That hasn\u2019t happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, customers tend to use the system for fairly trivial purposes, like asking about the weather, or playing music. Neither of those generates any money for Amazon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google\u2019s smart speakers are likely to suffer from the same lack of an obvious way to generate a steady revenue stream. That\u2019s not for want of trying. As Search Engine Land reported in 2019, the company did start testing ads<\/a> among the results provided by Google Assistant. Other approaches included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n