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Alexa’s Privacy Backtrack: Amazon Pushes All Voice Data To The Cloud
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For years, Amazon has marketed Alexa as a helpful, ever-improving assistant, one that respects user privacy (not really) while delivering convenience. However, a quiet announcement buried in an email to users suggests otherwise. On March 28, 2025, Amazon will disable local voice processing on select Echo devices, ensuring that every single Alexa request must be sent to the cloud for processing.
This is a fundamental shift in how Alexa works, one that strips users of a crucial privacy feature. No longer will certain commands — like adjusting smart home settings — be processed locally, on-device. Instead, even the most basic requests will now be routed through Amazon’s servers before being erased.
For those who chose local processing specifically to limit how much of their personal data Amazon collects, the message is clear: your privacy is no longer a priority.
The change was quietly disclosed in an email to users, explaining that Amazon is “no longer supporting” local processing as it rolls out its generative AI-powered Alexa Plus.
This is no upgrade; it’s a degradation of privacy under the guise of innovation. For users who deliberately enabled local processing to limit how much of their personal data Amazon collects, the message is clear: your control over your own voice data is no longer a priority.
Privacy lovers will likely not be using Amazon’s Alexa anyway but for years, many users have demanded more control over their data, not less. Amazon initially responded by providing opt-out settings, including the ability to prevent voice recordings from being stored or even sent to the cloud at all. But come March 2025, that control will be gone.
Right now, the most privacy-conscious setting allows certain Alexa requests — like controlling smart home devices — to be processed entirely on the device. Once that setting is disabled, every command will be sent to Amazon’s servers, processed, and then (potentially) deleted.
This distinction matters. By forcing everything through the cloud, Amazon is removing a layer of protection between users and the company’s sprawling data-collection infrastructure. Even if Amazon doesn’t store the recordings, it is still processing and analyzing them—meaning every interaction with Alexa will be subject to the company’s evolving policies, security vulnerabilities, and potential government requests.
Local processing limits Amazon’s ability to harvest valuable user data—data that feeds its advertising business, informs product recommendations, and helps refine its AI models. By eliminating local processing, Amazon ensures that every interaction with Alexa becomes another data point in its vast surveillance economy.
If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net.
The post Alexa’s Privacy Backtrack: Amazon Pushes All Voice Data to the Cloud appeared first on Reclaim The Net.
