I guess an obvious question is: what makes you think they haven't already? You have a smartphone, yeah?
More realistically, I would say that for most people, the NSA thing is a non-issue. Most of America isn't as privacy-minded as HN tends to be. I personally am not concerned about that. If the NSA is hacking into my Echo, there are bigger issues than the Echo -- namely, the NSA is overreaching. I'm not sure that ruling out an otherwise beneficial symptom of the problem really fixes the problem itself.
In other words, if you don't have an Echo, does that magically make the NSA powerless? No, of course not.
Great points. While I don't consider myself that privacy-minded, I have been trying to be more conscious of it lately. I suppose I trust my phone more for two reasons:
1. The public battle between the FBI and Apple gives me some confidence that my phone isn't bugged.
2. Even if it is bugged, my phone spends most of its time in my pocket or in a corner of my bedroom charging. Its microphones aren't good enough to pick up any real conversation in either situation.
The Echo is unique in that it is specifically designed to hear all conversation in a room and placed in a central location at all times.
Having said that, I agree that the Echo will not make or break the NSA. It is, however, one more potential security hole I am willingly bringing into my life. I will have to weigh the benefits to that risk. Just like I continue to use my smartphone, Gmail, Facebook, etc because the benefits have outweighed the risk, I am coming around to the benefit side of Echo's equation.
If the NSA had any reason to listen in on your conversations, nothing will stop them. It's just as easy to point a laser microphone at any window in your home, or simply planting a bug in your home.
Easier yet, just remotely activate the microphone on one of your smartphones or other devices. Most people have already accepted internet connected listening devices into their homes.
The radio modems on pretty much all phones* have complete control over the phone, and they can be controlled by state-level actors. So, I hate to say it, but your phone can be bugged at any time. Very similar to the Management Engine on all modern Intel chips.
* There are a rare few phones where the modem is connected by USB, which could (in theory) prevent the modem from taking control over the phone. I don't recall if the modem still has direct access to the mic though, in those cases.
> The public battle between the FBI and Apple gives me some confidence that my phone isn't bugged.
What if that is exactly what FBI and Apple want you to believe? If you think Apple is fighting for your privacy rights, then you don't switch to an alternative encryption method or start developing a solution to this problem.
I think both Apple and FBI need to play this public circus to fool people into a sense of security. That would make many activists sit on their hands, waiting for Apple to do their work.
More realistically, I would say that for most people, the NSA thing is a non-issue. Most of America isn't as privacy-minded as HN tends to be. I personally am not concerned about that. If the NSA is hacking into my Echo, there are bigger issues than the Echo -- namely, the NSA is overreaching. I'm not sure that ruling out an otherwise beneficial symptom of the problem really fixes the problem itself.
In other words, if you don't have an Echo, does that magically make the NSA powerless? No, of course not.