It's too easy to trick your Echo into spying on you

The main reason most people get an Amazon Echo, with its onboard AI servant Alexa, is convenience. But, after a family in Oregon found out Alexa recorded at least one private conversation and sent it to a contact in their address book, you might want to sacrifice convenience for privacy and personal security. Or, maybe you should at least keep the microphone turned off when not in use. Not very convenient, I know. Danielle (who identified herself only by her first name) and her family were going about their normal lives when her husband's employee unexpectedly called them and urged them to turn off all the Amazon devices in their home.