Your voice assistant can wake and record without the wake word. A peer-reviewed study from Northeastern and Imperial College London measured it: smart speakers falsely wake about 1.43 times per 10,000 words spoken nearby. In March 2025 Amazon told owners of three Echo models it was ending "Do Not Send Voice Recordings" — the last option to keep your audio off its cloud. https://www.thebluf.news/p/alexa-siri-google-assistant-voice-surveillance #Privacy #Surveillance