Alexa eavesdropped on my family's gossip, conversations about new jobs and insurance details

A MailOnline investigation into how much personal information Alexa is recording and storing on its users has revealed the smart assistant eavesdrops on housemates' gossip, private conversations about insurance policies - and even the family dog. Amazon insists Alexa can only be activated when the allocated'wake word' is uttered - being Alexa, Computer or Echo. The tech giant - along with Apple's Siri and, until recently, Google's Assistant - says it saves every single interaction a person has with the device to improve the service - with some'unintentional' snippets also being recorded if it mistakes another noise for a'wake word'. However, evidence seen by MailOnline shows this cannot be the case, or the process is fundamentally flawed, as a host of sounds and conversations were recorded without a clear or legitimate wake word being uttered - some when there was not even a human nearby. A MailOnline investigation into these'secret' archives has revealed an eerie snippets of users' friends, families and children being recorded while they were completely unaware - and without a clear or legitimate wake word being uttered.