‘Human error’ let Amazon Alexa user listen to another’s recordings: report

A “human error” allowed a user of Amazon’s Alexa smart speaker in Germany to have access to more than 1,500 recordings made by another Alexa user, according to a Thursday Reuters report. 

When the Alexa user asked to hear his old recordings, he was provided access to 1,700 recordings made by a stranger via a link that Amazon sent him, Reuters reported, citing the German magazine c’t.

{mosads}A man and a woman could be heard on those recordings, and the German magazine used the recordings to identify and ultimately track down the customer. 

An Amazon spokesman told Reuters on Thursday that the occurrence was an isolated incident. 

“This unfortunate case was the result of a human error and an isolated single case,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that Amazon has resolved the mistake and “took measures to further optimize our process.”

“As a precautionary measure we contacted the relevant authorities,” the spokesman said.