Almost half of Australians considered the potential for websites, apps and devices listening to them to be one of the biggest privacy risks, according to the most recent Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey.

What are the benefits of smart speakers?

He said the program, now in its ninth iteration, had helped them develop a sense of community while learning how to use the devices to set timers and alarms, manage their calendars, play radio stations and more.

John Clower is an Access Technology Specialist at Vision Australia. Source: Supplied

“All of our clients are over the age of 65, so they’re a bit older,” he said, adding that some were “wary of technology”.

Despite the ostensible benefits for some, privacy concerns about smart speakers remain.

Does accessibility come at the cost of privacy?

Many participants wanted to retain control over recordings and were uncomfortable with devices that were constantly listening.

“Having a recording device in every home is appealing to law enforcement and is a particularly terrible concern in a political climate of rising authoritarianism,” Gledhill-Tucker said.

What are the risks?

The Amazon Echo Dot was first introduced in 2014, before being made available in Australia in 2018. Source: AP / Elaine Thompson

“All these companies are able to say, ‘Well, these devices are not listening until you say the wake word.’ And then they only listen after you say the wake word in this very relatively brief window when you are speaking and then the listening shuts down right now,” he said.

“We now have so many listening devices everywhere that are hackable by nefarious people, governments, and so on and so on.”

“We’ve just granted, or we just gifted, all of this power and wealth to these guys by means of giving them our data or allowing them to tell us that it’s fine to take our data for free.”

Are there adequate protections in place?

Unlike countries that have a bill of rights, there is no federally enshrined right to privacy in Australia. Protection instead comes from the Privacy Act and its related Privacy Principles.

“Until we have a robust privacy act in place, we’re particularly vulnerable in this country.”