Amazon patents illness-spotting speech analyser

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Date

9th October 2018

In October 2018 Amazon patented a new version of its Alexa virtual assistant that would analyse speech to identify signs of illness or emotion and offer to sell remedies. The patent also envisions using the technology to target ads. Although the company may never exploit the patent, the NHS had previously announced it intended to make information from its online NHS Choices service available via Alexa.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/10/09/amazon-patents-new-alexa-feature-knows-offers-medicine/

writer: James Cook
Publication: Daily Telegraph

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People must know what data is generated and processed

People must be able to know what data is being generated by devices, the networks and platforms we use, and the infrastructure within which devices become embedded. People should be able to know and ultimately determine the manner of processing.

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Data should be protected from access by persons who are not the user.

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As nearly every human interaction now generates some form of data, systems should be designed to limit the invasiveness of data analysis by all parties in the transaction and networking.

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Individuals should be able to know about, understand, question and challenge consequential decisions that are made about them and their environment. This means that controllers too should have an insight into and control over this processing.