Buying behavior in Germany has changed. Over 50 million Germans regularly buy online and mostly do so from Amazon. But what does the online giant do with our data? In addition to normal shopping, Amazon also offers a range of other services such as Amazon Prime, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Echo. Each of these services reveals data about us in different forms, whether it's our favorite music, eating habits, or which films and genres we like.

AMAZON'S PRIVACY IS AMERICAN AND LUXEMBOURG PRIVACY

Data protection should be a fundamental right in Germany. Amazon, on the other hand, is based in the USA and in Luxembourg for Europe and has various subsidiaries in different countries with different laws and regulations. Here it is up to the German government to find out which data is used by Amazon for which purpose and whether data is being collected and stored unlawfully for this purpose.

WRITTEN AND SPOKEN INFORMATION

With Amazon Prime and Amazon Fresh, data and search queries are entered in writing. The Amazon Echo series consists of voice assistants, such as Amazon Echo Dot, Amazon Echo Plus or Amazon Echo Show, which connect to the Internet, play music, answer questions, or control the light, all with voice commands. This is where privacy advocates see the problem: when does Alexa listen and when not?

DOES ALEXA NEED TO BE TALKED TO?

To activate an Amazon Echo product, the activation word "Alexa" must first be set so that the subsequent voice command can be carried out. The voice commands or requests are then transmitted to the Amazon server and an answer is generated or an activity is controlled, which is either output or carried out by computer voice. Accordingly, the theory is that only speech is recorded if "Alexa" has been addressed beforehand. But is this really the truth?

VOICE RECORDINGS OWN AMAZON

The first studies and investigations show that the microphone in the Amazon Echo products is permanently switched on. A data transfer to the shopping giants only takes place when the keyword Alexa has been mentioned. The transmitted voice files are stored permanently at Amazon and Amazon reserves the right to further evaluate them. In addition, it is possible that the Amazon Echo voice recording is activated if similar words are used. Amazon says that it can happen that Amazon Echo is activated unintentionally. However, the blue glowing ring clearly shows that activation has taken place!