Police in the US believe an Amazon Echo overheard the murder of a man found dead in a hot tub. They want a copy of any audio recorded by the Echo personal assistant, conveniently stored in Amazon's cloud. The cops think the Alexa-powered Echo,
which was found in the kitchen, may have recorded what went on that night, even though you supposedly need to say a wake up word to activate Alexa. Presumably worried about sales, Amazon is refusing to hand over said recordings, and has gone to
court to fight their corner. Amazon refused to fully comply with the search warrant, and has now filed a motion to the Circuit Court of Benton County, Arkansas, to quash the order. The tech giant says any conversation a customer has with their
Echo is covered by the First Amendment. Amazon argued: Given the important First Amendment and privacy implications at stake, the warrant should be quashed unless the Court finds that the State has met its heightened
burden for compelled production of such materials.
Leaving aside the legal arguments, Amazon is keen to ensure that the police can't use its devices as perpetual bugs in the homes of their owners. If legal precedent is established for
that, sales will go off the side of a cliff. | 
