Legal BY: SEAN COX Privacy Implications of Voice-activated Devices In the late 1990s there were reports that a popular children’s toy, the Furby, was banned from the U.S. National Security Agency, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and the Pentagon. While it is diffi cult to confi rm the truth of these reports, the most obvious question is: What does a children’s toy have to do with intelligence agencies and the military? Because the Furby responded to certain voice commands, it was thought that the Furby could listen to, store and even repeat conversations. To some, the Furby was a tool for espionage. While the toy’s manufacturer denied that the Furby had any such abilities, the possibility was certainly enough to garner the attention of the United States’ intelligence community. The Furby was perhaps the fi rst popularized voice-controlled device. Today far more advanced, voice-activated devices are becoming popular and more common, and privacy concerns still exist in the popular consciousness. Today’s voice-controlled devices come in many forms. Most smartphones can understand and respond to the human voice. Probably the most familiar example is iPhone’s Siri ® . Many new automobiles include voice controls for phone calls, media and climate control. Smart appliances and many other internet-connected devices have also incorporated voice recognition abilities. Most, if not all, of these voice-con-trolled devices are internet enabled – they work by recording and then transmitting voice commands over the network to remote servers. The servers do the heavy processing and translate the voice commands into machine instructions. More recent devices are not simply controlled by the human voice, but also are activated by the human voice – devices that are always on and always listening. The most popular examples are the Amazon Echo and Google Home. However, similar technology is fi nding its way into phones, smart televisions, toys, cars and other internet-connected devices. Both the Amazon Echo and the Google Home act upon a “wake word,” which is a specifi c word or phrase that will “awaken” the device and prepare it to respond to voice commands. Unlike more traditional voice-controlled devices that require manual activation of the voice-recognition feature, voice-activated devices are constantly listening to and analyzing the audible environment for the “wake word.” According to manufacturers, these devices are constantly streaming the audio environment searching for the locally coded "wake word.” The manufacturers assure that the devices do not record or transmit conversations or other audio until they hear that “wake word.” Despite manufacturers' denials, it is clear that many believe these devices record more information. The Furby Because the Furby responded to certain voice commands, it was thought that the Furby could listen to, store and even repeat conversa-tions. To some, the Furby was a tool for espionage. 162 Summer 2017 HOSPITALITY UPGRADE www.hospitalityupgrade.com