[Magdalen] Siri is listening

[Louise Laughton]

Three (?) Christmases ago when Amazon Echo, a.k.a. Alexa, was the biggest new thing, my daughter gave me one. I really enjoyed having it and was proud of myself for providing it/her with music playlists. “Alexa! Playlist one,” I’d say, and that favorite music would fill  the room. And, it was great to have news and weather and other helpful info on demand all the time. Then one day, approximately a year and a half after the device had entered my life, Alexa talked on her own, no “wake word,” nobody named Alexa in the house. That was odd, but I wrote it off as a one-time, minor glitch. Then, one night in the wee hours, 3.a.m., of course, it/she began to talk big time. I could hear it two rooms away, and it went on and on. I got up, pulled the plug from the outlet, and haven’t worked up the nerve to try again. I spent hours on the phone with nice people (this isn’t sarcasm) at Amazon to no avail. They gave me an excellent price on a replacement device. It’s still in its box. I look at it once in a while. The whole thing was creepy.