The FBI May Or May Not Have Wiretapped An Amazon Echo

The always-on feature on devices like the Amazon Echo makes it infinitely more useful. After all what’s the point of issuing voice commands when one has to manually enable it first, right? However at the same time it makes it infinitely more dangerous as an always-on microphone has the potential to be hacked.

Now the folks at Gizmodo actually filed for a Freedom of Information request with the FBI several months ago in which they asked if they had ever wiretapped an Amazon Echo speaker. The response is rather vague and ominous which has us assuming the worst. It reads, “Please be advised that, upon reviewing the substantive nature of your request, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of records…”

Basically the FBI isn’t saying that they have wiretapped an Amazon Echo, but neither are they denying that they have. Usually if the answer is a no, then it is a no, and statements like these usually seems to suggest that they have. However this is just assumption on our part and for all we know, the real answer might be ambiguous.

It could mean that the FBI has plans for a wiretap but has not implemented one yet, or it could mean that they haven’t and they’re just being vague on purpose. So maybe the next time you consider leaving your Amazon Echo on all day, maybe you should reconsider that.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Audio, Gadgets
Tags: Amazon Echo, fbi, Legal, Privacy, Security