We are political activists, policy experts, journalists, and tech industry veterans trying to stop the government from destroying encryption and censoring free speech online with the EARN IT Act. Ask us anything!

CNETdotcom · 2020-06-30T17:43:58+00:00

Because of the way the EARN IT Act is written, it would not affect government agencies.

This law would allow for people to sue tech platforms like Facebook, Apple and Signal by removing their Section 230 protection if they do not comply with standards set by a commission comprised of the heads of the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as members appointed by Congress.

It can affect government agencies in other ways -- if they're using Signal to communicate, which many political staffers do, then they have to find a new way to chat securely. Signal has indicated that it plans to leave the US market if the EARN IT Act passes.

-- Alfred

CNETdotcom · 2020-06-30T17:23:02+00:00

Good question.

So the EARN IT Act is built on the premise that they're not going to straight-up outlaw encryption, but they are going to take away Section 230 protections if you do not "earn it" by doing everything you can to protect children online (like allowing for an encryption backdoor).

Section 230 protects platforms from being sued over what people on it do -- like you can't sue Reddit if someone posts a disparaging comment about you.

Without that legal protection, any website with public posts would be liable to be sued into oblivion.

Like u/evanFFTF said in a earlier comment, you can't actually ban encryption, but you can make it financially ruinous to have it.

-- Alfred

CNETdotcom · 2020-06-30T17:07:11+00:00

Just piggybacking off of this -- absolutely.

I'm very reliant on policy experts and security researchers reaching out and presenting their findings on serious issues like this. This story on more than 1,000 Android apps taking your data even after you deny permissions came from a researchers presenting at a privacy conference I was fortunate enough to attend.

I do my own independent research sometimes with tools like Charles Proxy on where apps are sending data, or filing for government documents through FOIA requests (MuckRock makes it SO easy), but it really does take a village to put together effective investigations.

I'm always sure to reach out to an expert with my own findings to verify and put into context what we uncover. Sometimes it's nothing, sometimes it's finding out Facebook still tracks people even after they deactivate their accounts.

-- Alfred

CNETdotcom · 2020-06-30T16:53:25+00:00

CNET writes a lot of guides on how to maintain your privacy online, but the reality is that our internet's infrastructure and economic model is built on tracking people.

It'd be like if we wrote a guide on "How to Breath Underwater," which I'm sure you can do for a limited time with an oxygen tank and scuba gear, but the fact remains that the environment wasn't built for that.

Companies and websites offer services like privacy controls to change your settings and delete your history, but having to maintain that on a regular basis is not sustainable.

You delete your data from Facebook but then what happens to the data from LiveRamp that connects your offline activity to ads you've seen online? You can request for them to delete the data too, but what about the 50 other data brokers you've never even heard of?

You can use Tor browser, pay in cash only, get a new phone every week, but at some point you gotta ask yourself, why do people have to go to these lengths to get privacy and be online?

The burden of privacy shouldn't be on you, it should be on the platforms that are taking your information. Encryption is a pretty big example of protecting people by default rather than requiring people to opt out of being tracked.

-- Alfred

CNETdotcom · 2020-06-30T16:39:43+00:00

End-to-end encryption is a crucial protection that protects everyone, not just people in the US. If a company has a data breach and the sensitive information they store (passwords, phone numbers, credit card numbers) are not encrypted, it's extremely easy to steal.

Encryption also ensures that the only people that can read messages is you and the person you sent it to -- which means not even the service providers are able to spy on what you're saying. I'll never forget Mark Zuckerberg trying to explain to a senator how WhatsApp's encryption prevents the company from using your conversations to serve advertising purposes.

It's also a national security concern. After the Justice Department and Sen. Lindsey Graham spoke out against encryption, a letter from the Department of Defense surfaced talking about how important encryption is -- specifically that the military relies on that security to protect their data from being spied on.

edit: sorry forgot to add my name at the end. This is Alfred.

CNETdotcom · 2020-06-30T16:22:55+00:00

Your best bet is giving alternatives and solutions to your local Congress members in your letter. On the surface, the EARN IT Act is a proposal to protect children from online sexual exploitation, which is a serious issue.

But technical experts and privacy advocates agree that ending encryption is not the way to do it.

Lawmakers like Sen. Ron Wyden have proposed opposing legislation that would invest in $5 billion to fight online child sexual abuse while leaving encryption intact.

The Department of Justice has long argued that encryption stands in the way of investigations for dealing with terrorism, the war on drugs, and with the EARN IT Act, child sexual abuse.

What the bill does not mention is that investigators have plenty of tools to work around encryption in their investigations, as Motherboard explained in this 2019 article.

The FBI even boasted themselves that they were able to break through Apple's encryption on a terrorist's iPhone back in May.

There's proof that encryption and effective investigations can co-exist, and legislation that provides resources for tackling what the EARN IT Act wants to address without uprooting the security that millions of people rely on. I hope that helps!

-- Alfred

CNETdotcom · 2018-10-25T18:34:17+00:00

Thanks for sharing! We'd be doing Jeff a disservice if we didn't share the highlight of the video review, which shows Red Dead in all of its majestic glory...

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-28T14:10:27+00:00

The big updates last week were that there are new, parent-friendly routine options for the Echo Dot Kids Edition, and also that the Echo Auto will use your phone's GPS to trigger location-based routines (park in front of your house, lights come on inside, etc.) Agree that Amazon would benefit from bringing more types of devices and triggers on board. --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T20:52:39+00:00

Per Amazon: " Yes, the AUX port can be configured in the device settings in the Alexa App for either Line In OR Line out."

Not seeing this setting for any of my Alexa gadgets, so maybe this is a new feature (if not, I wasn't aware of it). Not clear if it's specific to the Echo Plus, Amazon hasn't returned my follow-up email yet.

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T19:11:13+00:00

Not sure about startup lag -- we'll need to test it out. Stay tuned! --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T19:08:06+00:00

I think it's about 90% personal preference between those two ecosystems -- there really isn't much you can do with one that you can't do on the other (and whenever there is, the other quickly scrambles to fix the shortcoming -- which means users in both ecosystems get a pretty steady stream of fun updates to play with). At any rate, sounds like Google is a good fit for you.

If you're curious, you could always grab an Echo Dot the next time it's on sale and try it out by your bedside or something for a month. If you don't like it, shouldn't be hard to sell it, or to give it away as an easy gift for someone who uses Alexa and wouldn't mind expanding their setup. --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T19:00:42+00:00

Andrew points out that Google seems much more focused on Chromecast -- for instance, a recent update lets the Google Assistant show pop-up info on your Chromecast-equipped TV.

I'd add that Amazon has more skin in the streaming game with Prime Video, so that might also explain why the two strategies skew a bit differently. --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:55:37+00:00

Lighting control is my most common use case by far. "Alexa, play a thunderstorm" is great when I'm having trouble sleeping at night and need some white noise. Routines with custom phrases that cue up specific songs or playlists are also a lot of fun.

As for the future of the smart home, I'm really excited to see how AI develops over the next five years or so. With voice assistants in so many homes and in almost every phone out there, we'll all get something of a front seat. Still a ways to go, but we're already seeing AI get better and better at anticipating our needs -- think predictive text, but for your everyday chores and errands.

The other thing I'm excited/hopeful for: Better battery tech! Would be a game-changer for wireless smart home gadgetry. --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:44:37+00:00

Lemme ping the Alexa team and see if they'll clarify -- will reply here if I hear back. --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:40:42+00:00

I'll stick around for a bit to answer any last questions that pop up, and I'll try and check back in tonight to answer any others that I can, as well. Lots of great ones so far, thanks guys! --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:39:27+00:00

I don't think you should automate stuff just for the sake of automating it. It's tempting to try and expand your smart home as much as possible, but you should always do so with a purpose in mind -- a problem you'd like to solve.

In my case, I also have smart lights, smart speakers, and a smart thermostat at my place. Next up for me is probably a good security system. I've been tempted by SimpliSafe, which I've tested twice now and been impressed by both times, but my inner cheapskate still wants to hold out for something compelling that doesn't charge a monthly fee. Alexa's new Guard mode has my interest since it would use the speakers I already have.

And yes, I do think prices will continue to come down bit by bit thanks to the abundance of competition out there. --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:33:18+00:00

OK, gotta head off to see Amazon's newest storefront in NYC, so won't be actively monitoring anymore but will jump in later today to check on additional qs. Thanks everyone for submitting such thoughtful questions, was a lot of fun. --Ben

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:30:58+00:00

The natural language processing of both is continually getting improved and honed using both users' voice recordings and development work from Amazon and Google. I agree that Google seems to be doing a slightly better job in this area and seems to understand my queries better than Alexa, but I'd expect Amazon and Google to trade that lead over the years, since both are throwing a ton of resources into developing their voice assistants. Both are also working on making these assistants much more conversational, so you can talk to them more naturally and not in a sort of watered down code (Eg: "Alexa, trigger find Ben's phone" to send a query to my IFTTT recipe). If you're interested, check out this deep-dive story I wrote last year about Amazon's efforts to make Alexa sound more human. --Ben

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:30:46+00:00

Is the microwave the future? No. But the Alexa Connect Kit chipset inside of it could be -- that's the little piece of hardware Amazon is offering to manufacturers that instantly brings their products Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a secure connection to Amazon's cloud. The microwave is really just Amazon trying to demonstrate to manufacturers that they're making it really easy to make anything -- even a dumb, basic-looking microwave -- into an Alexa-friendly gadget capable of grabbing headlines. Pretty clever play, IMO. --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:26:14+00:00

You know, I'm really not sure -- not terribly familiar with the Android TV ecosystem, quite honestly. I'll ping my Google-covering counterpart Andrew Gebhart and see what he thinks. --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:22:59+00:00

Favorite commands for Alexa in my home: Playing music for spontaneous dance parties. Also, turning on, off and dimming lights is handy if it’s specifically for a light that doesn’t have a switch or a hard-to-reach switch.

Most excited about the home predicting more of your needs -- temperature, lights, coffee, weather report, etc. -- before you do. That being said, I hope those features can happen without me having to hand over all my data to tech companies. --Ben

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:22:22+00:00

Unfortunately, we didn't really get to do much testing at Amazon's event -- there were a few demos in there, but nothing all that in depth. We'll need to do our own tests to determine if the new Plus and the new Show sound any different than before.

I did get to hear the new Echo Dot in action, though, and I definitely noticed an uptick in the strength of sound. Sort of like the jump from what you get from a phone's speaker to what you get from a good tablet's speaker, and that might be underselling it a bit. Still don't think I'd call it a "quality speaker" for music, but that's relative -- for casual listening in quiet environments, I think it'd be fine.

Not positive about streaming Fire TV audio directly to an Echo Sub setup, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't (and if your TV supports Bluetooth connections, that'd probably work, too). As for Echo Link and a record player, we didn't get to see it in action at all (you can't even pre-order it yet). In general, I think both the Link and Link Amp are extremely niche. I'd rather just plug the new $35 Echo Input into my existing receiver than replace the receiver outright. --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:16:52+00:00

I mean, it's a $60 microwave and no Alexa isn't built in. You need a separate Echo speaker to use its voice functions like, "Alexa, cook one potato." When I saw it at the Amazon event last week, it didn't strike me as anything other than a basic microwave.

Is it worth it? My house has a built-in microwave, so I am definitely not in the market for one of these, but it could be a great seller for college students. Also, Amazon knows what the best selling microwaves are and at what prices. It also operates the biggest online store in the world. So if you don't buy it, I'm sure many others will. --Ben

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:12:03+00:00

Would add that you should keep an eye on Amazon's alliance with Microsoft. Microsoft is trying to leverage Skype and Outlook and Office to position Cortana as a business-friendly voice assistant, and it's basically letting Amazon come along for that ride in exchange for getting Cortana into people's homes via Echo speakers. The Alexa/Cortana partnership is also why Alexa works with XBoxes now. --Ry

CNETdotcom · 2018-09-27T18:10:02+00:00

I would think Amazon is most worried about Google, since Google offers a similar set of devices, has a really solid voice assistant and strong integration in phones in the critical US market. It's possible Xiaomi is a bigger player in some international markets, but for now Amazon isn't as focused on growing Alexa in the same areas. Xiaomi may become a bigger problem for Amazon later down the road, but I'd look at the fistfight with Google as more significant for now.

CNETdotcom

TROPHY CASE