Image: CNET/CBS Interactive
We may never know if the feds have hijacked Amazon Echo.
Amazon has so far issued two transparency reports since it began declaring how many government data demands and wiretap orders it receives.
Both reports outlined how many subpoenas, search warrants, and court orders the company received to cloud service Amazon Web Services. While its cloud makes up a significant portion of the data that it gathers, the company also collects vast amounts of data from its retail businesses, mobile services, book purchases, and requests made to Echo.
But an Amazon spokesperson wouldn’t comment on whether the company will expand its transparency report.
The company’s third report is due out in the next few weeks.
In case you didn’t know, Echo is an always-on device, which, when activated, can return search queries, as well as read audiobooks and report sports, traffic, and weather. It can even control smart home devices.
The company is said to have sold three million Amazon Echo speakers.
Earlier this year, Gizmodo filed a freedom of information (FOIA) request with the FBI to see if the agency had wiretapped an Echo as part of a criminal investigation.
The FBI neither confirmed nor denied whether it tapped the Echo.
For now (and maybe always), use at your own risk.
