My girlfriend gave me an Alexa assistant as a gift with all good will, since she knows I like technology. I know in terms of privacy it is garbage, however I wonder if there is a safe way to use some functions of this device, perhaps without internet. Some way to hack it or something, do you guys know something about this?
@Morse depends on your threat model. nation states surely have alexa zero days to easily hot mic a house.
@Morse (and under FISA a 702 they don’t even need a zero day, the NSA can just compel Amazon’s covert facilitation).
Neither of those concerns are exclusive to an Alexa device though. They’d apply to any communication device (phone, tablet, computer, laptop, or any other smart/connected device).