What information does Alexa keep?
Huseman confirmed that when a user manually deleted a conversation from Alexa, the transcript would be deleted as well and not remain in any storage systems. Here comes the surprise — at least for those who didn’t read the Alexa fine print (and let’s face it, almost all of us are guilty of that). Huseman told Coons that not all records of conversations with Alexa are deleted, even if you manually removed the audio. For example, any transactions involving third-party skills developers are kept so the developers can track transactions. Essentially, every purchase you make through Alexa is kept on file. That information is likely to contain personal data. “We use the customer data we collect to provide the Alexa service and improve the customer experience, and our customers know that their personal information is safe with us,” Huseman wrote. He added that other types of Alexa recordings and transcripts that are not deleted are those associated with the devices’ “Remember” feature for recurring alarms, reminders of meetings and events, and more. In his letter to Coons, Huseman said keeping those transcripts and audio will help “train” Alexa’s machine-learning systems. Now we know that Alexa is keeping some of your recordings and transcripts even if you have manually removed them. So what’s the point of removing them? Here’s how to get rid of old audio files:
Open the Alexa app and go into the “Settings” section.Select “History” and you’ll see a list of all the entries.Select an entry and tap the Delete button.If you want to delete all the recordings with a single click, you must visit the “Manage Your Content and Devices” page at amazon.com/mycd.
