Disney Alexa in all rooms?

[Meglen]

Why is everyone worried about it listening to us.? We will have 3 google listening devices (phones) turned on all the time. The reason I don't like them is due to the camera but I will just slide the bar and cover it up. No big deal. Kids will love these. I wonder if they will intergrate customer service stuff so we don't have to call for towels and such. That will be nice.

 

[Chuck S]

If you are saying Hey Disney then that means they have their software on top of this with full control.

Not necessarily, it simply means they are programed with Hey Disney as the activation key instead of Alexa or Echo, it may also access your MDE account to tell you your plans/reservations for the day, and perhaps the weather forecast.

 

[sethschroeder]

Why is everyone worried about it listening to us.? We will have 3 google listening devices (phones) turned on all the time. The reason I don't like them is due to the camera but I will just slide the bar and cover it up. No big deal. Kids will love these. I wonder if they will intergrate customer service stuff so we don't have to call for towels and such. That will be nice.

Because there is a difference between Disney and a company like Google who specifically is tied in with lots of potential issues if they have leaks and are incorrectly using data.

Additionally there is a difference between Google with encrypted audio recording files of you and that of Amazon who serves it back to the account holder of the specific device in question.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GHXNJNLTRWCTBBGW
On your Google Assistant you can only review the commands and only the commands. It will not serve up anything additional. Also you can remove your own command history which you will not have the control over on this Alexa device. You can even setup auto deletion on your google account. I don't trust Disney to set profiles to not record data at all (which there is a setting for Alexa).

 

[kilik64]

Think everyone is missing the bigger picture here

7am alarm goes off.

Hey Disney, book rise of the resistance lighting lane.

Congrats you have book a lighting lane pass for 4 for 3pm and your card has been charged $250. Have a magical day!

 

[sethschroeder]

Not necessarily, it simply means they are programed with Hey Disney as the activation key instead of instead of Alexa or Echo, it may also access your MDE account to tell you your plans/reservations for the day, and perhaps the weather forecast.

Fairly certain. The way it typically will work is you are entering the Disney App within your Amazon Alexa through a skill. This is will be also how you interact with this at home except at home you will need to activate the Disney portion.

At home it will be something like "Alexa, open Disney 50th" at which point it will pass it to this skill that will be defaulted it seems on the Disney owned Alexa devices in hotel rooms.

You will highly likely be within the Disney programing not Alexa base coding like you have at home.

 

[sethschroeder]

Congrats you have book a lighting lane pass for 4 for 3pm and your card has been charged $250. Have a magical day!

Its Disney it will be more like.

You to your partner - "Should we book Victoria and Alberts?"
Disney Alexa - "We have booked the non-refundable dinner for your party of 4 (includes your toddler kids) for $2500"

 

[DonMacGregor]

For those that say you turn off location tracking and voice recognition on your phone, how do you know that it is REALLY off? Just because the location services icon isn’t coming on doesn’t mean the aren’t tracking you in the background and just not being honest about it.

Because apparently, Disney is the only organization nefarious enough to be that disingenuous. Nobody else would be that devious or deceitful, only the Evil Overlord Bob Chapek.

 

[LAX]

Maybe I'm vacationing all wrong, but just how much discussion do some people have in their hotel room regarding "spending habits and preferences"? If you bugged my room, all you'd get is 2 or 3 hours of "We need to get going, #@*%!", "What time is our reservation?" or "Hang on, I need to use the bathroom before we go". And a fair amount of arguing. 75% of the time we're not even there.

Maybe you'll find out we're eating dinner at Boathouse on Saturday at 7:00, but you'd already know just about all of my on-property activities by virtue of MDE. Disney already knows where I am, where I'm eating dinner, where I had lunch, when I entered each park, what credit cards I have linked to my account, what tchotchkes I bought at the Emporium, what beer I had at Biergarten and Geyser Point, my address, phone number, email, you name it. Hell, when DME was a thing, they even knew what airline you were flying and your flight number.

Are folks planning on doing the whole "Hey Alexa, how is my Goldman portfolio performing today?" while getting ready to catch the bus to MK? I get the whole Big Brother thing, but seriously how much of anything important does anyone say in their hotel room at WDW? And anyway, the NSA is listening to everything already anyhow...

Same here. I can't imagine what my family might talk about while on vacation that would be of interests to anyone even if they intentionally eavesdrop on us.

LAX

 

[Brian Noble]

Because apparently, Disney is the only organization nefarious enough to be that disingenuous. Nobody else would be that devious or deceitful, only the Evil Overlord Bob Chapek.

Speaking for myself: my primary concern is Amazon, not Disney.

 

[Chuck S]

Speaking for myself: my primary concern is Amazon, not Disney.

Besides, there isn't much the mouse doesn't already know, especially about long term direct owners. They know our vacationing habits, our spending habits, our dining preferences. There's 30 years of room charge and travel data at their fingertips, so what will this Alexa thingy add?

 

[Best Aunt]

I guess I'm the only one who wants someone to experiment when this is in their room. Ask certain things, say certain things -- and see if they notice any consequences. Would it impact suggestions, ads, etc., on anything? If you ask it where you can find popcorn in the park, will you start seeing suggestions and ads for popcorn thereafter? (Not saying that a person would be able to notice all consequences, or be aware of all uses for the potential data recovered. Just wondering if they would notice anything.)

 

[DeeBee3]

Please someone report back with any input - play around with what it tells us like above poster mentions. Ask something randomly ridiculous and see what happens. This could be a fun experiment! My kids could come up with some real doozies. "Hey Disney, are there real people inside those Mickey costumes?"

 

[sethschroeder]

I guess I'm the only one who wants someone to experiment when this is in their room. Ask certain things, say certain things -- and see if they notice any consequences.

Watched a CNET video they outlined its about jokes, music, sign alongs, ambience sounds, character interaction. No purchase support at all but in the hotel room version it can tell you when the next bus is (if you want to believe it because the app is wildly inaccurate already) or ask for a general search like finding italian food or request things like more towels.

It sounds like this is part of Echo Hospitality though where no audio recordings are recorded (good thing), camera is disabled (at least for Disney), and its muted upon room entry (you need to opt in to use it).

Now that I know Amazon seems to be in more control its not as bad as I first thought it would be.

I would say though your home echo might not fall under the same privacy guidelines as the in hotel room devices. It was outlined that "Hey Disney" would always be running as a second assistant on the Echo devices if installed at home (which supposedly is a Amazon first).

 

[sethschroeder]

Please someone report back with any input

I don't think this is coming until sometime in 2022.

 

[Kennywood]

Former Apple engineer says the button on iPhones asking apps not to track you is a 'dud' that gives users a 'false sense of privacy'

 

[DonMacGregor]

It sounds like this is part of Echo Hospitality though where no audio recordings are recorded (good thing), camera is disabled (at least for Disney), and its muted upon room entry (you need to opt in to use it).

And, the Evil Overlords in Burbank are far from the first hoteliers to introduce Alexa for Hospitality (AKA Room Genie).

 

[DLgal]

Maybe I'm vacationing all wrong, but just how much discussion do some people have in their hotel room regarding "spending habits and preferences"? If you bugged my room, all you'd get is 2 or 3 hours of "We need to get going, #@*%!", "What time is our reservation?" or "Hang on, I need to use the bathroom before we go". And a fair amount of arguing. 75% of the time we're not even there.

Maybe you'll find out we're eating dinner at Boathouse on Saturday at 7:00, but you'd already know just about all of my on-property activities by virtue of MDE. Disney already knows where I am, where I'm eating dinner, where I had lunch, when I entered each park, what credit cards I have linked to my account, what tchotchkes I bought at the Emporium, what beer I had at Biergarten and Geyser Point, my address, phone number, email, you name it. Hell, when DME was a thing, they even knew what airline you were flying and your flight number.

Are folks planning on doing the whole "Hey Alexa, how is my Goldman portfolio performing today?" while getting ready to catch the bus to MK? I get the whole Big Brother thing, but seriously how much of anything important does anyone say in their hotel room at WDW? And anyway, the NSA is listening to everything already anyhow...

This isn't how they data mine you. It's not based on your actual conversations.

You know how now when you enter some rooms, it says "Welcome Smith Family" on the TV? Well, this is because that room is now linked to your MDE. MDE has your email address. That Amazon device will also have your info off MDE. They will match the email from MDE and look for a corresponding Amazon account. They will pull your Amazon history and give it to Disney. Disney will give your spend history to Amazon. They will each share that data with whatever third parties are in on the deal. You will then be targeted for advertising and whatever else they decide to do with your data. It's basically bringing another entity and all its affiliates companies into the mix. It's a clever way of doing it...install a Mickey shaped "information/entertainment hub" in the room so you don't think about what its actually there for.

The thing is, the MDE/Genie app or Resort TV channel already does most of these functions being advertised with this. No one needs to ask Alexa what the park hours are. They could simply use the app that they have their faces buried in all day already. They could easily add the ability to text housekeeping to ask for more towels. Plenty of other hotels have been doing this throughout the pandemic, so this isn't novel either. There is no reason to have an Amazon powered virtual assistant in a Disney resort room. And they aren't doing it for your benefit. It's just weird.

FTR, I am not a "privacy nut", at all. I use ALL the tech. But this just rubs me the wrong way. And yes, they WILL have a staff of people over in China, probably, listening in on these devices ALL the time. That's creepy. Whatever Amazon claims about how these devices work really means nothing. All these big tech companies lie all the time.

 

[DonMacGregor]

This isn't how they data mine you. It's not based on your actual conversations.

You know how now when you enter some rooms, it says "Welcome Smith Family" on the TV? Well, this is because that room is now linked to your MDE. MDE has your email address. That Amazon device will also have your info off MDE. They will match the email from MDE and look for a corresponding Amazon account. They will pull your Amazon history and give it to Disney. Disney will give your spend history to Amazon. They will each share that data with whatever third parties are in on the deal. You will then be targeted for advertising and whatever else they decide to do with your data. It's basically bringing another entity and all its affiliates companies into the mix. It's a clever way of doing it...install a Mickey shaped "information/entertainment hub" in the room so you don't think about what its actually there for.

The thing is, the MDE/Genie app or Resort TV channel already does most of these functions being advertised with this. No one needs to ask Alexa what the park hours are. They could simply use the app that they have their faces buried in all day already. They could easily add the ability to text housekeeping to ask for more towels. Plenty of other hotels have been doing this throughout the pandemic, so this isn't novel either. There is no reason to have an Amazon powered virtual assistant in a Disney resort room. And they aren't doing it for your benefit. It's just weird.

FTR, I am not a "privacy nut", at all. I use ALL the tech. But this just rubs me the wrong way. And yes, they WILL have a staff of people over on China, probably, listening in on these devices ALL the time. That's creepy.

I get all that. I'm quite well aware of how electronic data is captured and monetized. My point was that virtually EVERYTHING that can be mined by a device in the room is already accessible through either Disney-controlled apps or web sites (MDE, DVC, etc.), browser histories either at home or the office, or through existing connected devices. All they'd have left is recordings or transcriptions, because they already have access to everything else.

As an aside, here's what Amazon has to say about sharing your info now:

• Third-Party Advertisers and Links to Other Websites: Amazon Services may include third-party advertising and links to other websites and apps. Third-party advertising partners may collect information about you when you interact with their content, advertising, and services. For more information about third-party advertising at Amazon, including interest-based ads, please read our Interest-Based Ads notice. To adjust your advertising preferences, please go to the Advertising Preferences page.

Disney (and Disney+) and Amazon are already affiliates/partners, hence this new "synergy". Do I think it is more than just a coincidence? Possibly. Are they going to mine more information from me than they already have and are already able to share? Probably not.

 

[EM Lawrence]

Am I the only one who has read the stories of employees collecting, sharing, and listening to “bedroom noises?” No thanks Disney.

 

[DLgal]

I get all that. My point was that virtually EVERYTHING that can be mined by a device in the room is already accessible through either Disney-controlled apps or web sites (MDE, DVC, etc.), browser histories either at home or the office, or through existing connected devices. All they'd have left is recordings or transcriptions, because they already have access to everything else.

As an aside, here's what Amazon has to say about sharing your info now:

Disney (and Disney+) and Amazon are already affiliates/partners, hence this new "synergy". Do I think it is more than just a coincidence? Possibly. Are they going to mine more information from me than they already have and are already able to share? Probably not.

They wouldn't be doing it if there wasn't something in it for both of them.