Amazon patents a voice-sniffer that triggers offers on overheard emotional words
Evidence
By 2018, Amazon had inked deals with home builders, installing its Dot speakers directly into ceilings throughout the house as well as Echo devices and Alexa-powered door locks, light switches, security systems, door bells, and thermostats. As one report put it, “Amazon can acquire more comprehensive data on people’s living habits.…” The company wants to sell real-world services such as house cleaning, plumbing, and restaurant delivery, but according to some insiders, the vision is more far-reaching: an omniscient voice that knows all experience and anticipates all action. Already, forward-looking Amazon patents include the development of a “voice-sniffer algorithm” integrated into any device and able to respond to hot words such as “bought,” “dislike,” or “love” with product and service offers. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 838
Categorization
- DEEPTHINKING: The ‘voice-sniffer algorithm’ patent — an ambient device that parses overheard speech for buying signals — is a dense, paradigm-shifting image of prediction capitalism reaching into domestic privacy.
- QUESTION: Is the patented voice-sniffer actually deployed, and what are its legal boundaries under eavesdropping law?
- FICTION: An omniscient home voice that ‘knows all experience and anticipates all action’ is a rich dystopian conceit.
- XREF: connects to: The European Commission publicly funded emotion-reading technology for advertising — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 878; Voice modulation data can be sold to preempt psychological events for many client types — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1314; Machines can capture emotional reactions the subject cannot consciously report — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 882 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- The European Commission publicly funded emotion-reading technology for advertising
#corroborates(0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 878 - Voice assistants sit between lived experience and its auctioning
#epitomizes(0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 812 - Voice modulation data can be sold to preempt psychological events for many client types
#expands(0.78) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1314 - Machines can capture emotional reactions the subject cannot consciously report
#expands(0.75) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 882 - Every Alexa territory expansion increases the voice surplus Amazon extracts
#expands(0.75) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 839