Nearly one year following last year’s San Bernadino attack, Amazon finds itself in a similar bureaucratic predicament after refusing to hand law enforcement voice records transmitted through an echo device. The Echo device belongs to a man charged with murder.
According to news broken by The Information, the Echo device belonged to James Andrew Bates of Bentonville, AR, a man charged with first-degree murder earlier this year. A man was found dead in Bates’ hot tub last year, and police believe that additional evidence may potentially be found in an Amazon Echo device present during the night of the murder. Despite obtaining a warrant, police were unable to procure voice records — Amazon refused to comply.
A report states that Amazon did comply on two separate occasions unrelated to voice data when it handed over Bates’ purchase history and account information. It also indicated that police were able to obtain “some” information from the device, without explicitly detailing what that might be. It’s unclear under what basis Amazon refuses to hand over the requested information, whether it be technological or legal.
As far as we know, this is the first murder case involving a virtual assistant and a search warrant. Expect more to come.
Amazon’s Echo is a voice-controlled virtual assistant that’s activated by a wake-word like “Alexa,” the default setting, and only records when activated. Activating Alexa allows users to play music, read the news, check weather, control smart appliances and lighting around the house, and give other types of voice commands.
In this case, police hope that the Echo may have been mistakenly triggered, causing it to record a snippet of conversation. Or perhaps the police hopes that the Echo secretly records all conversations but only notifies the user when triggered with the wake word. That could explain Amazon’s hesitance in handing over the voice data.
Source: Business Insider
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