Smart speakers, like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, have come under fire over the past few years for ‘listening’ to its owner’s conversations.
Now, a team of scientists believe they have developed the ultimate weapon to block the devices’ spying abilities – a wearable that jams the microphone.
Dubbed the ‘bracelet of silence’, the chunky bracelet is fitted with 23 speakers around it that emit ultrasonic signals that drown out any speech of the wearer.
While these ultrasonic signals are undetectable to human ears, they leak into the audible spectrum after being captured by the microphones, producing a jamming signal inside the microphone circuit disrupts voice recordings.
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Scientists developed the ultimate weapon to block the devices’ spying abilities – a wearable that jams the microphone. Dubbed the ‘bracelet of silence’, the chunky bracelet is fitted with 23 speakers around it that emit ultrasonic signals that drown out any speech of the wearer
The team chose to design the technology into a bracelet, because it uses the wearer’s natural gestures that occur while speaking, gesturing or moving around to blur out the blind spots.
The bracelet was designed by a team at the University of Chicago, which can also jam the microphones on a smart assistant.
Pedro Lopes, assistant professor at the University of Chicago, who worked on the project, told the New York Times: ‘It’s so easy to record these days.’
‘This is a useful defense.
Inside the cuff is a wave generator that crates the ultrasound jamming signal, which produces a wave up to 12.5MHz. There is also a microprocessor inside, LED status indicator and a LiPo battery
‘When you have something private to say, you can activate it in real time.
‘When they play back the recording, the sound is going to be gone.’
The wearable is easily activated when a person starts talking, because it uses their natural hand movements to power on.
Inside the cuff is a wave generator that crates the ultrasound jamming signal, which produces a wave up to 12.5MHz.
There is also a microprocessor inside, LED status indicator and a LiPo battery.
Researchers found that the wearable device is 96 percent effective in jamming devices in the surrounding area.
For now, the bracelet remains to be a prototype.
But according to the researchers, they could be manufactured for only $20.
‘The future is to have all these devices around you, but you will have to assume they are potentially compromised,’ Ben Zhao, computer science professor at the University of Chicago who worked on the project, told The Times.
Researchers found that the wearable device is 96 percent effective in jamming devices in the surrounding area. For now, the bracelet remains to be a prototype. But according to the researchers, they could be manufactured for only $20
‘Your circle of trust will have to be much smaller, sometimes down to your actual body.’
Last year, Amazon had admitted to its customers that thousands of recordings are being analysedby staff and transcribed before feeding them back into the software.
As many as 1,000 clips are reviewed by workers in buildings all over the world, many of which do not bear any obvious indication that they are run by Amazon.
The team chose to design the technology into a bracelet, because it uses the wearer’s natural gestures that occur while speaking, gesturing or moving around to blur out the blind spots
Among more sinister content the workers have heard, have been a child screaming for help and two instances where they believed they heard a sexual assault taking place.
Smart assistants and the use of the recordings taken in the privacy of a customer’s home has been a long-standing ethical issue for tech firms.
Amazon also never explicitly mentions in its lengthy terms and conditions anything about humans presiding over the recordings.
Instead, it says all Alexa does it ‘answer your questions, fulfil your requests, and improve your experience and our services’.