Add yet another skill to Alexa's repertoire: staunch defense of the First Amendment.
Amazon is holding firm and refusing to hand over voice and transcription data recorded by an Echo speaker to prosecutors in Arkansas as part of a murder trial.
Amazon maintains the authorities haven't clearly established that the investigation is more important than a customer's privacy rights, according to an AP report, and claims the recorded data and Alexa's responses are protected under the First Amendment.
Last week, the company filed a 91-page motion (obtained by Ars Technica) with the Benton County Circuit Court to kill the search warrant.
Police first issued a warrant for the data back in December, hoping to gain insight on the hours leading up to the death of Victor Collins in November 2015. The owner of the Echo speaker, James Andrew Bates, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
At that point, an Amazon spokesperson told Mashable, "Amazon will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us. Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course." Amazon reps gave the AP the same statement yesterday after filing the motion.
Specifically, the motion states, "The recordings stored by Amazon for a subscriber’s Echo device will usually be both (1) the user’s speech, in the form of a request for information from Alexa, and (2) a transcript or depiction of the Alexa Voice Service response conveying the information it determines would be most responsive to the user’s query. Both types of information are protected speech under the First Amendment.”
In refusing to hand over the recorded data, Amazon is sticking to its guns. The company said prosecutors must prove the information isn't available elsewhere before seizing the recorded data, and also requests that the court reviews it before the prosecutors to be sure that it's actually relevant to the case at hand.
The case is similar to Apple's legal battle with the FBI in California following the San Bernardino shootings. After the FBI demanded that Apple unlock the shooter's phone, the company refused, and the two were at a stalemate until the FBI found a different way into the device.
TopicsAmazonAmazon AlexaAmazon Echo
(责任编辑：百科)
J.K. Rowling makes 'Harry Potter' joke about Olympics event
Impossible Project's I
Live your baller gamer fantasy with a gold
Bryan Adams cancels Mississippi show because of antiNancy Pelosi warns colleagues after info hackedOne of the first Apple computers ever made is currently up for auction.A rare "Celebration" Apple-1
...[详细]8 innovations that could actually make airplanes more comfortable
The Oscars of the plane cabin, the Crystal Cabin Awards, were held in Hamburg on Tuesday night. This
...[详细]David Cameron protest stars piñata pig with his face on it
LONDON -- Demonstrators marched on Downing Street on Saturday demanding that Prime Minister David Ca
...[详细]10 spectacularly strange calls Brits have made to the UK Foreign Office
LONDON -- Wherever there's a service that's only meant to be used in emergencies, it's a simple fact
...[详细]'Rocket League' Championship Series Season 2 offers $250,000 prize pool
Rocket League。's competitive scene is just getting started.
。The。 Rocket League 。Championship Series i
...[详细]Thailand says nevermind the drought, annual water gun fight is on
BANGKOK — Drought? What drought? Bring out the water guns!Thailand may be going through its dr
...[详细]Roku is bringing one of its best features to its new streaming stick
Roku is finally bringing one of the best features of its set-top box to its smaller streaming stick.
...[详细]Jennifer Lawrence wants a 'new normal' body type
J-Law is sick of the shaming.In an interview with Harper's Bazaaron Thursday, America's current swee
...[详细]How Hyperloop One went off the rails
In December 2014, an engineer with the unlikely name Brogan BamBrogan was in the driveway of his cla
...[详细]The Aussie startup scene needs more commitment and less conversation
The Australian startup scene is in good shape, but it needs less chatting and more doing.That was th
...[详细]'The Flying Bum' aircraft crashes during second test flight
Airport reopens, PM says 'normal life' resumes in Brussels after attacks
