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Alexa is always eavesdropping. (So are Siri, Google Assistant, and any other virtual assistant you invite into your home.)
Alexa公司總是在偷聽。（蘋果語音助手、谷歌語音助手和其他任何你邀請到家里的虛擬助理也一樣。）
This is and isn’t as creepy as it sounds.
這其實并沒有聽起來那么恐怖。
Although it’s true that the device can hear everything you say within range of its microphones,
雖然這個設備確實能在其麥克風的范圍內聽到你說的所有話，
it is listening for its wake word before it starts recording.
它在聽到喚醒詞后才會開始錄音。
Once it hears that—“Alexa” is the default, but there are other options—everything in the following few seconds
一旦它聽到喚醒詞——“Alexa”是默認的喚醒詞，但是還有其他選擇——在接下來幾秒聽到的任何話
is perceived to be a command or a request
都會被視作命令或請求，
and is sent to (and stored on) servers in the cloud, where the correct response is triggered.
然后會被發送到（并存儲到）云端服務器，觸發正確的響應。
Think of a smart speaker like a dog: It’s always listening,
把智能揚聲器想象成一只狗：它總是在聽，
but it understands only “cookie,” “walk,” or “Buddy.” Everything else goes right over its head.
但它只能理解“餅干”、“走路”或“伙計”。其他一切都超出了它的能力范圍。
Every time Alexa hears a command, Amazon—its parent company—has just learned something about you.
每次Alexa聽到一句指令，亞馬遜——它的母公司——就會多一些對你的了解。
(Same with Apple and Google, if you use their speakers.) Maybe the company learned only that you like to listen to the Police,
（如果你使用蘋果和谷歌的揚聲器，情況也是如此。）也許公司只了解到你喜歡聽警察的話，
or that you like fart jokes, or that you turn your lights off at 11 p.m. every night.
或者你喜歡放屁的笑話，或者你每天晚上11點關燈。
If you were to say “Alexa, where should I bury the body?” you’re not going to have the police showing up at your door.
如果你說“Alexa，我應該把尸體埋在哪里？”“這不會讓警察出現在你的門前。
(I know because I’ve tried it.) Alexa does make mistakes.
(我知道，因為我試過了。)Alexa確實會犯錯。
Sometimes this can be funny, such as when Alexa hears its wake word in a TV show.
有時候這很有趣，比如Alexa在電視節目中聽到它的喚醒詞。
Other times it’s more serious, including an instance in 2018
其他的時候就更加嚴肅了，包括2018年的一個事件，
when Alexa mistakenly sent an entire private conversation to a random person’s Echo device.
Alexa錯誤地將整個私人對話發送到任意一個人的回音設備。
Occasionally there are even humans listening to your request for weather reports
有時甚至有人會聽到你的天氣報告請求，
or trying to figure out what you meant when you added “mangosteens” to your shopping list.
或者試圖弄清楚當你把“山竹果”添加到你的購物清單上是什么意思。
Sound intrusive? You likely already agreed to it in the app’s terms of use when you installed the device.
感覺受到侵擾了嗎？當你安裝該設備時，你很可能已經同意了應用程序的使用條款。
What bits of privacy are you willing to sacrifice for the convenience provided by a smart speaker?
為了智能音箱提供的便利，你愿意犧牲多少隱私呢？
If you trust that Amazon’s intentions are no more nefarious than getting a better idea of what you want to buy on Prime Day, then you have your answer.
如果你相信亞馬遜的意圖不比更好地了解你在亞馬遜會員日想買什么更邪惡，那么你就有了答案。
If you worry about your private information falling into the hands of the wrong people, then you have another answer.
如果你擔心你的私人信息落入錯誤的人手中，那么你還有另一個答案。
