Amazon's Alexa Records and Emails A Private Conversation
BALDWIN: Alexa, what is my worst nightmare? This woman in Portland, Oregon is sharing this shocking story about her smart speaker. She said her Amazon Echo, aka Alexa, actually recorded a conversation she was having with her husband in the privacy of her own home and then sent the audio to one of his employees in Seattle. Yes, she did. Thank goodness it was just about buying hardwood floors. So she did what any of us would do and called Amazon to complain.</s>DANIELLE, FORMER AMAZON ALEXA USER: He apologized about 15 times in a matter of 30 minutes. And said we really appreciate you bringing this to our attention, this is something we need to fix. I felt invaded. He said thank you for letting us know. This is something we need to fix. I felt like total privacy invasion. Immediately I am like I'm never plugging that device in again. I can't trust it.</s>BALDWIN: Alison Kosik with CNN money is with me now. This is anyone's worst nightmare.</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Especially if you're busy doing something you don't want others to hear.</s>BALDWIN: We talk about things in the privacy of our own homes. How did this happen?</s>KOSIK: Amazon is saying it's a rare series of events where Alexa misheard a series of words and sent out this file. It said Echo woke up due to a word in the background conversation sounding like Alexa. When you wake up these devices, you say "Alexa." Then it heard words like send message requests and the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the contact list and bam, that audio was sent to that employee. The microphone on these devices is really sensitive and the thinking is that it heard this background conversation and that perhaps the couple kept the volume down when Alexa was responding saying to whom, they didn't hear it.</s>BALDWIN: I have so many questions and we just don't have the time for it all. But number one, my take away is that it records whenever you talk to this thing, it records what you're saying.</s>KOSIK: You have to assume it's recording. One thing to keep in mind, when you invite these devices into your home, you are giving up a bit of anonymity. Just like do you when you go on Facebook or Google. A little of your anonymity is going away. This thing is always recording. It's always on.</s>BALDWIN: All I am saying is good thing they were just talking about hardwood floors.</s>KOSIK: Exactly, hardwood floors. Real fast, I will tell you how to shut that thing off. There's a microphone mute button on top and the top of the device will turn red and we can all assume that the voice activator is turned off, but you never know. I say take a hammer to it and get it the heck out of the house.</s>BALDWIN: Amazon is not loving this story today. Thank you for coming by. Appreciate it. Coming up next, things that are often shrugged off, conspiracy theories or the real beliefs of a Republican nominee for Congress. We are talking 9/11, believes it is an inside job, and Beyonce is part of the illuminati. You have to see what CNN dug up on this guy. Also, no summit, now possible summit, just hit another big development on President Trump's face-to-face meeting with Kim Jong Un that he had abruptly canceled. The White House is once again communicating with the North Koreans. Stay with me.