Rooms at Marriott Complete with Spying Devices

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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I know all HardOCP readers will be excited to find out that when you stay at a Marriott hotel in the near future, you can look forward to an always-on Alexa device in your room listening for your every need, the recording all your activities and sharing it will hotel employees for their amusement. Marriott's No-Privacy feature however will not take video of you.


Alexa for hospitality would assist in providing services ranging from ordering room service to requesting housekeeping or calling the concierge for dinner recommendations without picking up the phone.

The company said the partnership will start this summer at Marriott’s select properties and the service will be available by invitation to other hotel chains.
 
kju1 said:
...that doesnt stop it from listening to you with the microphone. Even if it doesnt send the data to amazon during that time that doesnt prevent someone from hacking the device and setting it to be "muted" but always listening and sending the stream to someone else...
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If it's muted, it's not listening. That's how muting works with the Echo Dot, the button is a microphone mute, not a speaker mute.
 
kju1 said:
...that doesnt stop it from listening to you with the microphone. Even if it doesnt send the data to amazon during that time that doesnt prevent someone from hacking the device and setting it to be "muted" but always listening and sending the stream to someone else...
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That's one hell of an "if"...if you're that paranoid, stay home.
 
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buzzbomb said:
That's one hell of an "if"...if you're that paranoid, stay home.
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No thats not even a stretch...you do know that your cell phone mic can be turned on at any time w/out your knowledge right? What makes you think this is any different? There are already documented attacks against pre-2017 echos and thats just the ones we know about.

Always on microphones are a security risk. Period. The only way to be sure is to unplug the thing. Not mute it.
 
kju1 said:
No thats not even a stretch...you do know that your cell phone mic can be turned on at any time w/out your knowledge right? What makes you think this is any different? There are already documented attacks against pre-2017 echos and thats just the ones we know about.

Always on microphones are a security risk. Period. The only way to be sure is to unplug the thing. Not mute it.
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Because the button cuts the voltage to the microphones, they are not always on unless you choose for them to be always on.
 
Merc1138 said:
Does it physically cut the power? Or is it just a software controlled switch that tells a chip to cut the power?
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https://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/20/jef...-echo-is-harder-to-hack-than-smartphones.html

Red LED lights are on the same circuit, no lights, it's not muted.

"We've done something a little unusual with Echo," Bezos said. "It would be no different from your phone, but we went one step further than what's done on a phone. When you hit the mute button on Echo, that red ring comes on that says the microphone is turned off. That mute button is connected to the microphone with analog electronics. You have to come physically tamper with the device. You couldn't do it with a computer virus."
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And yes, if you're worried that someone physically tampered with the device, than just unplug it.
 
ND40oz said:
"You have to come physically tamper with the device. You couldn't do it with a computer virus."
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LOL no you totally could. Time and effort is all it would take to write a boot loader that would take total control of the device. But hey if you have faith in what Bezos says as the talking head more power to you.

I guarantee you will not know going into the hotel room if the device has been physically tampered with. Anyone sufficiently sophisticated enough to tamper with one of these will be able to hide their tampering. Good luck.
 
kju1 said:
LOL no you totally could. Time and effort is all it would take to write a boot loader that would take total control of the device. But hey if you have faith in what Bezos says as the talking head more power to you.
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Bezos said that close to 2 years ago, but if you consider his claim a challenge that you could do it without physically tampering with it, go for it.
 
Lenard said:
Still, Unplug it.
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phone rings... Yes this is the front desk, we see you unplugged the Alexa in the your room, we are sending up an person to plug it back in ok.


But all joking aside, from the Marriott stand point, this is a amenity for its guests that they many find nice to have.
 
Billy the Dimwit said:
phone rings... Yes this is the front desk, we see you unplugged the Alexa in the your room, we are sending up an person to plug it back in ok.


But all joking aside, from the Marriott stand point, this is a amenity for its guests that they many find nice to have.
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Need to make a tool to short the units out easily. Once they have to start repairing/replacing thousands of those, they will be taken out of service.
 
Wonder if your Marriott room agreement now comes with an EULA and Privacy Agreement? Is there an Opt Out clause? Hope these things are more secure then the average electronic hotel door lock.

If they are WiFi gizmos, can you could cause room service all sorts of fun by switching the gizmos between rooms so they aren't in the rooms they were setup for?
 
Billy the Dimwit said:
Or charge the guest when one fails from shorting out.
It would be better to temporary jam wifi signals if it can't save recordings. Or just stop having things to hide.
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Yeah, charging guests for broken electronics will work out good for them.

I should not have to worry about hiding anything when I am in the privacy of my hotel room that I paid for.
 
Hell, if it's spying on me, I might as well find a 2nd person, bring them to room then start talking about where we buried the bodies/money or something... :D
 
kju1 said:
...that doesnt stop it from listening to you with the microphone. Even if it doesnt send the data to amazon during that time that doesnt prevent someone from hacking the device and setting it to be "muted" but always listening and sending the stream to someone else...
Click to expand...

If someone really wants to listen to me take a shit that badly... they can have at it. :cool:
 
Merc1138 said:
Really dude? So you just give zero shits about any sort of privacy at all then?
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Its not that I'm against privacy, people just have a messed up view of privacy. Like when people spill there life story on Facebook then get bitchy the second Facebook or someone looks that their posts.

The hotel is not your home. If your bothered by something recording your voice your probably doing/saying something you should not in the first place. That or need to or need to man up and get some confidence in yourself and stop caring what people will think about what you say/do.
 
Billy the Dimwit said:
The hotel is not your home. If your bothered by something recording your voice your probably doing/saying something you should not in the first place. That or need to or need to man up and get some confidence in yourself and stop caring what people will think about what you say/do.
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You and your wife (yes, wife) are having a romantic night (a common hotel use). Are you seriously so dense you can’t understand that while not illegal people still have a right to privacy and not be recording banging? Nothing “wrong” about it. But by your reckoning the hypothetical couple should just stop caring...
 
When in the room, unplug. When not in the room, play a looped recording of "The most annoying sound in the world" from Dumb and Dumber. :)
 
Billy the Dimwit said:
Its not that I'm against privacy, people just have a messed up view of privacy. Like when people spill there life story on Facebook then get bitchy the second Facebook or someone looks that their posts.

The hotel is not your home. If your bothered by something recording your voice your probably doing/saying something you should not in the first place. That or need to or need to man up and get some confidence in yourself and stop caring what people will think about what you say/do.
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Everyday things in your mind that are apparently "wrong" or "shouldn't be doing":

Fucking
Discussing personal financial or medical information
Mentioning an online username to someone when you aren't already broadcasting your life to the world via facebook
Discussing politics and then having to deal with some disgruntled hotel employee
Discussing that some particular aspect of the hotel sucks, and then having to deal with some disgruntled employee
Discussing the items you're putting in the room safe(sure they're easy enough to break into, but why provide a catalog tell let someone know if it's worth their time?)
Any potentially embarrassing conversation one might have while drunk
etc.

You must lead the most sheltered/boring life on the planet.
 
kju1 said:
No thats not even a stretch...you do know that your cell phone mic can be turned on at any time w/out your knowledge right? What makes you think this is any different? There are already documented attacks against pre-2017 echos and thats just the ones we know about.

Always on microphones are a security risk. Period. The only way to be sure is to unplug the thing. Not mute it.
Click to expand...

I think you meant to say "... unplug the thing and accidentally drop it in the toilet."
'Cause maybe battery or supercapacitor.

Of course, because people steal things from hotels, odds are that unplugging the spy device will trigger an alarm.
So make sure you unplug it at 2AM, because the walls are pretty thin.
 
It's always a bit insano to me how companies rush out to integrate other company's tech assuming that everyone wants it, eg, ipod connectors in cars back in the day instead of usb. Then when Ford and Acer recently announced they were bundling alexa with all their stuff, I knew it would start rolling out everywhere.

It boggles my mind that apparently all it takes to put a listening device in everyone's home is to call it an Echo and give it some convenient features like turning on things with voice command. I know some people are cool with that and embrace new convenient things. I just hate when everyone else's stupid is forced upon me as well.

Unfortunately, I travel a lot and have built up Marriott loyalty/rewads, so I hope there's an option to get a room without Alexa. And if not and I am staying at a Marriott, then I'll unplug it. I guess I'm glad Marriott rewards merged with SPG and RC now because I can start using those instead...
 
Merc1138 said:
Everyday things in your mind that are apparently "wrong" or "shouldn't be doing":

Fucking
Discussing personal financial or medical information
Mentioning an online username to someone when you aren't already broadcasting your life to the world via facebook
Discussing politics and then having to deal with some disgruntled hotel employee
Discussing that some particular aspect of the hotel sucks, and then having to deal with some disgruntled employee
Discussing the items you're putting in the room safe(sure they're easy enough to break into, but why provide a catalog tell let someone know if it's worth their time?)
Any potentially embarrassing conversation one might have while drunk
etc.

You must lead the most sheltered/boring life on the planet.
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You should not be dissing financial or medical information in hotel, its not the time and place for it. Not that others knowing about you money/medical problems should bother you.
Whats someone going to do with a user name? Are you that paranoid that you have to hide user names from people?
If you have a problem backing up your options you should not voice them to begin with.
See above.
You should not get drunk in the first place.

No I don't a sheltered life. I been to 4 different countrys and travel out of state just about every weekend.
 
Billy the Dimwit said:
You should not be dissing financial or medical information in hotel, its not the time and place for it. Not that others knowing about you money/medical problems should bother you.
Whats someone going to do with a user name? Are you that paranoid that you have to hide user names from people?
If you have a problem backing up your options you should not voice them to begin with.
See above.
You should not get drunk in the first place.

No I don't a sheltered life. I been to 4 different countrys and travel out of state just about every weekend.
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At least your user name is spot on.
 
I can understand people's misgivings, but I don't think we need to be outraged about a hotel adding an additional service. As long as they give the occupants the choice to unplug or remove Alexa, I don't see a real issue here. It seems like a nice additional feature to me that I can use when I want and unplug it for privacy.
 
Billy the Dimwit said:
I can see it now.
Marriott's Alexas devices hacked, guests recorded, hacker at large but thought to be from Russia.
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It just depends on the media/government's mood at the time. It could be Russia, China, Eastern Europe, Timbuktu, The Outer Hebrides, Peoria, Bangalore (a division of MS tech support, please to be sending credit card infos) and everyone's favorite, Macedonian Content Farmers (when they're not at war with Albanian virus miners).
 
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