Is Alexa in the tank for the democrats?

[exitseven]

My wife often listens to a conservative talk show in the morning. She often complains that Alexa purposely tunes to the wrong radio station or that after a few minutes it changes the station to something else. I asked Alexa if she knew this particular host. Did she give herself away because she knew an extraordinary amount of information about this local radio personality? Since Twitter revealed censorship towards conservatives it is not too outrageous to think that Amazon isn't in the tank too.

Alexa, was the 2020 election stolen?

[nightdrot]

Not likely. The machine operates on an algorithm - grant that the algorithm may, in some sense, reflect the biases of the program writer. Be that as it may, in general the device will store data that it collects from various sources, including sources that are unfriendly to your wife's perspective but that otherwise reflect her interest in politics.

That all said, I am a man who has never looked at a Facebook page, a Twitter page or any other similar technology let alone employed an Alexa device. I still use a flip phone, and my laptop and this website are about as tech savvy as I get. In short, there is little about technology that impresses me and I subscribe to Ellen Glasgow's aphorism that, "All change is not progress as all movement is not forward."

Bottom line, while we shape our tools and our tools shape us, anyone with a degree of self-awareness would recognize the limits of technology and should be unimpressed. Anyone who is getting their news from what the technology of the hour chooses for them is a slave and not a master to their tools.

Please, by the way, I cast no aspersions on your wife. She deserves credit for at least paying attention to what the technology is choosing for her. It is just that, as a man who has worked in politics for over 20 years and is a student of history and political philosophy, I am appalled by the obsession with Twitter and all the rest.

Advice to the culture: Turn of your toys. Read books - especially of history and philosophy - and stop making the mistake of assuming that a "tweet" or what Alex picks out of the miasma of its' algorithms is anything more than superficial background noise. No serious news or thought comes from them and those who depend upon them is mistaking emotional responses for reasoned analysis.

[exitseven]

Yes, my son bought us this device. I work as a network engineer and I can tell you how all this stuff works but I really have little use for it either. I just had to get rid of my flip phone because I got a new job that used 2 stage authentication and had to finally get a smartphone. There is a book called "Distracted: bu Maggie Jackson that you would probably like. It is all about how technology is affecting people.

[nightdrot]

You sir, are a saint. The world needs more like you!

Seriously, we seem to be of the same mindset. It adding an incredible degree of authority to your argument by virtue of your line of work. Suffice to add, as the 19th century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield) put it, “The European talks of progress because by the aid of a few scientific discoveries he has established a society which has mistaken comfort for civilization.”

[Jamie05rhs]

Turn your radio off and read the Washington Post like a good little boy.

[exitseven]

The washington Post is where democracy goes to die.

[Jamie05rhs]

@exitseven Correct.
And thanks for the MHO!

[SpringValley]

Yes, and most everything is in the tank for democrats. I was going to say to you... TV, cable, radio... then I caught myself.

Ask your wife if she ever listens to liberal talk radio. lol

Ain't no such creature. :)

I have the Google version of Alexa. They all listen, and so does your phone. Anything that's connected to the Internet, can probably listen. It's strange how everything is being connected to the Borg.

I watched a comedian on Netflix, yesterday. In his routine he was screaming at his daughter for getting rid of their toaster, and buying a WiFi-enabled toaster.

He said that downloading the toaster apps wasn't bad, but it took him a week to learn how to make toast, again.

[exitseven]

Yes, I work in IT and could tell you how it all works but I really don;t have much use for it.

[SpringValley]

Tucker had a team test on an android smartphone. They bought it new, took the battery out and the sim card. Then they drove all over town. When they got back to base, they hooked up the phone to a computer, and downloaded the phone's brain.
That skeleton of a phone captured their exact route.

[exitseven]

I believe it.

[Msputiton]

No clue

Don't care about listening to shows like that.

Anything that is dedicated to one political party is never good to listen to.

[exitseven]

This is about the first amendment. It is a slippery slope.

[Msputiton]

No it's not.
Government don't own amazon.
They allowed to sell what they want and allow what they want to be played on their products.

If the government tells you, that you can't listen to conservative radio or punishes you for it, now your first amendment rights are violated.
Constitution says government cannot stop you not private businesses have to give you free speech.
That's like saying a restaurant violated your rights because they didn't have your favorite food on the menu

[Msputiton]

And the government cannot force private business to put things on their products

[SpringValley]

You got his point completely backwards. It's not about the government controlling the products on the shelves, it's about big tech being in the tank for the Democrats.

[Msputiton]

@SpringValley amazon has all the right in the world to decide to have democratic views and not support republican views.
Just like if you opened your own business you have all the right in the world to use not support democratic views.

I mean the thing people who are too invested in politics make the mistake of getting overly worked up because someone else has used their right to support a different party than their own and they get all worked up and begin throwing conspiracy theories as to what caused it.
But at this moment it is more popular in America to support democrats.

So as a smart business owner you will cater to the bigger audience. Not everything is a plot to destroy one party or america. That's just the democrats and Republicans want their voters to believe. Because it's easier to manipulate their voters. That's why 95% of political advertisments no longer talk about policies.
It is no propaganda to make you fear the other party in hopes of scaring you guys enough to vote for who ever they give you.
And most democratic and republican voters are now full of paranoia and believe everything that happens is some plot to destroy their party or America

[SpringValley]

No one questioned Amazon's right to cater to a particular audience. The asker just asked if its happening, and we all agree that it is happening.

[exitseven]

@msputiton How about if the FCC decided to revoke the licenses of all the radio stations that carry conservative programming?

[Msputiton]

That's completely different. They would have to have legit proof of the threat to our country to ban it because it's federally ran.

The government is not allowed to interfere in free speech with out proof.
But also nobody is entitled to have their voices heard on any privately ran public forum.
That is not what the constitution means

[NamerOfStars]

You're paying for the privilege of being spied on; what exactly do you expect?

It's not about political leaning, at least in the right/left sense; it's about loyalty to your corporate and/or government overlords. Today, that's the left; twenty years ago, it was the right. If you really want a demonstration, ask Alexa when the battle of Blair Mountain was.

Do be prepared, though; you'll likely be receiving a visit from Amazon's Pinkerton squad if you do.

[exitseven]

I will ask when I get home tonight.

[lightbulb27]

possible. I wouldn't trust much coming out of california. if anyone things the liberals in control of CA media and software are considerate to conservative viewpoints, they should go visit. I went there decades ago and can only say... it was a different planet in san jose.

probably some software option somewhere.

I sold mine long ago... and I don't use all their stuff. don't even get me started on cameras...

[exitseven]

My son gave it to us as a gift so my wife wanted to use it.

[Anonymous]

No it's not unreasonable. Amazon is known for censoring conservative views, I'm surprised Alexa doesn't outright bann conservative talk shows. Alexa though is a device used to spy on people. It's like that time I watched a documentary on amazon prime all of a sudden I was getting adverts and recommendations for nazi parafamalia and conservative books and shows.

[exitseven]

Yes, I would not be surprised if I made Biden 's enemies list.

[Opinion Owner]

If you were wealthy or powerful enough the IRS would audit you indefinitely

[exitseven]

Bring it on I have nothing to hide.

[Opinion Owner]

Not how the IRS works. Doesn't matter if you've done anything wring, the bureaucracy can take months even years to sort and in the meantime you go bankrupt and the irs have no accountability for their mistake not even an apology.

[exitseven]

Yes that is true. I majored in Accounting and in my tax accounting class we watched a movie about the IRS. It was a little scary.

[Aerissa_Jade]

I'd say its in the tank for the NSA to listen to everyone's conversations secretly. People willingly putting a device into their homes that the government can tap into without them knowing, don't even need to plant a bug.

Besides, no one would really know if that is happening at all, unless another Snowden leaks it.

[MrHopper]

Its most likely due to what ever is in the information provided by the people who broadcast the shows rather than any direct censorship, usually lower down the pecking order broadcasters tend to be more lax with the information than the larger ones who will have dedicated people and departments to tag programmes

[Anonymous]

Seems highly unlikely. That would be a very hard problem and is not something Amazon would pay engineers to do. Also it would be a hard secret to keep for very long -- some departing engineer would tell the press.

[exitseven]

If Elon Musk had not bought Twitter, half the country would still be in the dark about the Biden family corruption scandal. The media was able to suppress it for more than two years.

[Opinion Owner]

What scandal?

[exitseven]

hahahhaha see, they have you fooled too.

[BeMuse]

It's a communist surveillance state "bug" that people pay to install in their own homes due to brainwashing in an information war. You've capitulated your own home to the communist and paid them to take your territory.

[BeMuse]

A better comparison would be a white flag of surrender put up by you.

[BeMuse]

Just woke up... Thought it said "Is Alexa the tank for the democrats"

[BeMuse]

https://www.cryptomuseum.com/intel/stasi/

[Guy13]

Most media is on the take for the Democrats. Pravda Left is who runs our Media...

[MCheetah]

Alexa is a product of Amazon. Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos is a Democrat and very woke (look at "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" for proof.) What do you think?

[MCheetah]

www.washingtonpost.com/.../

[dustybiker]

You can always ask for your money back. 🤨😁

[exitseven]

it was a gift from my son. otherwise I would not have it.

[dustybiker]

That was thoughtful of him.

[exitseven]

Yeah, he is a good kid

[Bel2718]

Why do people even have those creepy things? They are so obviously monitoring devices, gathering information about you and sending it off to God-knows-where. The same with Siri.

[RealMarek]

For sure she’s doing the work of the deep state.

[TotallyAlmost]

Of course. It's a combination of media and big tech.

[Anonymous]

You shouldn't obsess over politics, it's not healthy.

[SnowedIn]

This is an interesting thought.