Smart Tech Companies Want More Data

Google and Amazon ask manufacturers about user requests, including when you turn on and off your lights and which channel the television is set to.

19:06 20 February 2019

Bloomberg has reported that Amazon and Google have started asking manufacturers to provide more information about user requests. Google is yet to make a statement while Amazon has said that it does not use the information for advertising or to sell to third-party companies.

 

Although many experts speculate that Google and Amazon are using the information for targeted advertising, some say that it is also possible that the move is part of their strategies to make sure that their smart assistants can respond faster and with more accurate information.

 

Smart assistants are designed to automate tasks around the house for improved safety and convenience. For example, if you want to make sure that your door is locked after leaving your house, you may send a request to the smart device’s server and request the current status of the door. After the smart assistant receives the information, it issues command to lock the door. By collecting user requests information, Google and Amazon can reverse this process. By doing so, the device will report the door status at all times to reduce the amount of time required to relay commands.