ALEXA, YOU’VE BEEN SERVED,
Privacy concerns Echoed in N.H. murder
A judge’s ruling that New Hampshire authorities can examine recordings from an Amazon Echo speaker owned by a Dover man suspected of murdering two women is the “tip of the iceberg of a huge problem” when it comes to protecting people’s privacy, experts say. A New Hampshire judge ruled Friday that law enforcement officials can review the Amazon Echo speaker recordings owned by Timothy Verrill of Dover, who is accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of Christine Sullivan, 48, and Jenna Pellegrini, 32, at a Farmington, N.H., home in 2017. Verrill pleaded not guilty and faces trial. Prosecutors believe that the recordings captured the attack on Sullivan and could be found in the server maintained by Amazon. But the tech giant said it won’t release customer information without a legal warrant served on them. “Amazon will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us. Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course,” Amazon said in an emailed statement. The case is already raising questions about new technology and privacy concerns when people are constantly using devices that track people’s whereabouts. “This is the tip of the iceberg of a huge problem,” T. Barton Carter, a professor at Boston University specializing in communications and law, told the Herald. “There is the third party rule that if you give information to a third party, the government can go after it. It has applied to phone calls. It’s trickier with cellphone tracking. The real problem is the government law has not kept up with technology.” “So what is privacy at this point is a real problem,” Carter added. New devices like Echo and Google Home are supposed to respond to keywords, but they may hear background conversations while activated. The issue rose to the forefront in May when a device recorded a couple’s conversation in Oregon and sent it to their friend in Seattle. Carter said privacy in the past was protected as long as there was a reasonable expectation of it. But now with all the technological advances, the question is do people even have a reasonable expectation for privacy, Carter asked. “Now when every device in your house is linked and knows what you are doing, it becomes a major problem,” Carter said. “All of this information now that is tech-driven — the law has not kept up at this point.” Amazon has already faced these questions in a case last year. The company dropped its objection to an Echo search warrant in a death investigation after the suspect and owner of the speaker agreed to release the information.