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As Amazon’s Alexa Passes 100 Million Units Sold, It Will Now Be Always-On And Always Recording And Storing All Conversations In Your Home

Amazon’s patent application for an always-on feature for Alexa, its popular voice-activated personal assistant, has raised a lot of concern.

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4 years ago

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Amazon's Alexa Is Always Listening and Recording Your Conversations
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Amazon’s patent application for an always-on feature for Alexa, its popular voice-activated personal assistant, has raised a lot of concern.

Understanding of Bible prophecy is a lot like driving into a smog-filled city like Los Angeles, where I lived for a time before getting saved back in the last 1980’s. When you view LA from a distance, it is very obvious that the whole city is ringed with a dark, brownish-gray layer of smog. But as you get closer, a funny thing happens. That same smog that was crystal-clear from a distance virtually disappears as you drive into it, and once inside, is nearly invisible. So it is with Bible prophecy as it gets closer to the time of its fulfillment.

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” Revelation 13:11,13-18 (KJV)

When I got saved and started doing Bible study, prophecy in particular, it seemed to me that nearly all of the Church was acutely aware of things like the coming Mark of the Beast. Writers like Hal Lindsey wrote and warned against the creep of technology, as did many movies of the time. We wondered would our televisions start spying on us, and really had a great awareness of things. Not so in 2019. In our day, billions of us wear and carrying global tracking devices which we call our mobile devices, and millions of us have put spy gear like Alexa and Google into our homes. Gone is the nervousness and apprehension of the One World Government and the Mark of the Beast. Now we openly embrace these things. And yes, our televisions are spying on us.

The reason why this is happening is because in the 28 years since I got saved, we are now right on the very edge of Bible prophecy and its fulfillment. The Pretribulation Rapture of the Church, the event that will kickoff the end times officially, remains as of this writing only a kitten’s whisker away from taking place. An unsaved world is right now wholeheartedly embracing these end times tracking devices, just as they will fervently adopt the Mark of the Beast in the days when Antichrist shall rise and rule. Getting all that, Alexa?

To the computers that now surround us, speech is just another form of data.

FROM BLOOMBERG: “If you’re already freaked out by the privacy implications of smart speakers like Amazon’s Echo,” says Gizmodo, “we have some bad news.” A headline in ScienceAlert is even more direct: “Newly Released Amazon Patent Shows Just How Much Creepier Alexa Can Get.” You get the idea.

But the anxiety is much ado about nothing. An Alexa that’s always listening will likely prove more useful than an Alexa that isn’t; and, in any case, always-on devices are certainly our future.

As of January 2019, Amazon had sold more than 100 million devices that include Alexa. That number is certainly dwarfed by the billions of devices that include Siri and Google Assistant. But the difference is, those features come bundled with your smartphone, which has many other uses. When you purchase an Alexa device, you are choosing to invite Amazon into your home to listen to you.

Even those who have no interest in obtaining an Alexa-linked device know how the thing works, if only from Amazon’s flood of television commercials. You say “Alexa, what’s today’s weather?” — and it tells you. Whenever Alexa hears its “wake word,”  the software assumes that the user wants its attention. Thus Alexa “wakes,” listens and processes the words that follow as a command.

The difficulty arises because, in the words of the patent application, a wake word “may not always precede a spoken command, and may sometimes be included in the middle of a spoken command.” The application gives an example: “Play ‘Mother’s Little Helper’ by the Rolling Stones.” As currently configured, the system will respond if the user prefaces the request with “Alexa” (that is, “Alexa, play ‘Mother’s Little Helper’”) but not if the wake word comes at the end (that is, “Play ‘Mother’s Little Helper,’ Alexa”).

Put otherwise, Alexa as currently configured does not match the way people speak. The user must structure each command around a relatively formal grammar. The invention described in the patent application would deformalize the means for addressing the device, thus enabling Alexa to fit more easily and naturally into everyday life.

Here’s Amazon’s solution: Alexa already stores what it hears in a buffer. Under the new configuration, according to the application, once Alexa detects a wake word, “the device will go backwards through the audio in the buffer to determine the start of the utterance that includes the wakeword.” After finding what it scores as the most likely start of the command, Alexa will perform a similar calculation to find the end. The command will then be processed exactly like one that was preceded by the wake word.

It all makes a great deal of sense. Why then the concern? It seems to me that there are two potential issues.

One is a worry about what happens to the information from the audio buffer. Alexa currently retains recordings for a period of time, helping it model the user’s needs and wants. This feature, which can be partially disabled, has already caused privacy problems. Courts have issued subpoenas for Alexa recordings. And as Bloomberg News has reported, human beings at Amazon already listen to much of what Alexa hears, in an effort to improve the algorithm. But no always-on feature was necessary for those recordings to survive.

The second concern might be that an Alexa which listens more closely, responding to natural language commands, will soon become an Alexa that fades into the background. The relative formality with which the device must be addressed serves as a reminder that we are addressing just that — a device. The more casually we can speak, the more casual we will likely be about using it. We might, quite literally, forget that Alexa is there. Only the consumer can decide whether that is a feature or a bug.

Amazon says that it has no current plan to change the way Alexa listens, but bear in mind that the always-on feature can be implemented whether or not it is ever patented. In other words, if the notion of a device that is always awake worries you, the fact that a patent application has been filed shouldn’t cause you to worry more. Any device that listens to you can already be made always-on. (Including, by the way, your smartphone.)

We accept that our laptops and smart televisions are recording the choices we make and sending them we know not where. The only reason we imagine that our spoken words are safe is that speech is an older, more instinctive technology. We still think of speech as special, a distinctively human function, and when we are in spaces we consider private, we consider our voice as something heard only by our most intimate and trusted acquaintances.

But to the computers that now surround us, speech is just another form of data. The various voice-commanded devices of today, whether in our homes, smartphones or cars, work just like keyboards or touchscreens. The only difference is that the human input is a voice. And the only way they can get that input is to listen for it.

So let’s calm down. Yes, it can be fun to imagine a future in which our homes are entirely connected and yet we’re able to keep private everything we want to keep private. But that ship sailed long before Amazon decided to seek a patent on a minor and welcome change to Alexa. READ MORE

Amazon Alexa Echo Recorded Conversation And Then Sent To Contact

A woman in Portland, Oregon, says her Amazon Echo secretly recorded her conversation and sent the recording to a contact on her husband’s phone. Amazon said it was the result of an “unlikely” series of events.

Amazon workers reportedly listening to your conversations with Alexa

ROBO Global CIO Bill Studebaker discusses the report that thousands of Amazon employees are listening to people’s conversations with Alexa.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last days before the Rapture of the Church

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When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the building of the recording studio, but it also goes to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. Even all the way to South Africa. We even restarted our weekly radio Bible study on Sunday nights again, thanks to your generous donations.

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“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJV)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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End Times

The Cultural Affairs Committee In New York City Have Called For The Immediate Removal Of Statues Of George Washington For Reparations Task Force

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2 days ago

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September 20, 2023

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Money should be found to remove statues of America’s founding fathers like George Washington in New York City as a ‘Reparations Task Force’ committee is created

America is being hollowed out, eaten away on the inside by forces conspiring against her just as we first told you when Now The End Begins first started back in 2009. We wrote that “for generations the Bible has warned of the coming End of Days, and you are now living in that time. America, a nation raised up by the Hand of God to spread the gospel and to be a beacon of Freedom for people around the world is about to be forever silenced by those sworn to protect her – her leaders.” What we told you was coming then is now almost complete here in 2023.

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Proverbs 29:2 (KJB)

Our Founding Fathers were far from perfect men, they all had their faults and flaws. But God used them to create a nation around the King James Bible that is nearly as unique on Earth as the nation of Israel is. No other nation in modern times has been as lauded and as celebrated as America, and rightly so. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and all the others we remember to this day for the amazing work that they started which is still in effect 247 years later. But this is what the enemies of America hate, they hate our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and the men who put pen to ink to birth it all.

For 14 years now, we’ve been warning you that America is being removed brick by brick, and right now we are about out of bricks.

New York City threatens statues of Washington, Columbus and Jefferson over slavery links and mulls reparations task force

FROM THE DAILY MAIL UK: The city’s Cultural Affairs Committee has demanded the eviction of George Washington and Christopher Columbus and others from public spaces because of links to slavery, along with the establishment of a reparations task force. The plans before the city council on Tuesday come after Mayor Eric Adams warned that New Yorkers face a ‘financial tsunami’ from the cost of providing for more than 10,000 new migrants a month.

But they have prompted fury as the city scratches around for resources with libraries, meals for senior citizens and childcare all now at risk. ‘This is little more than an attempt by the radical left to rewrite our nation’s history,’ said City Councilor Joann Ariola.

‘The Founding Fathers and the others who worked so hard to establish this great country should be celebrated, not eliminated from memory.’

The Committee plans to remove any public statue or work of art that ‘depicts a person who owned enslaved persons or directly benefited economically from slavery, or who participated in systemic crimes against indigenous peoples or other crimes against humanity’. Dozens of prominent statues across the city are at risk including those depicting Thomas Jefferson and former governor Peter Stuyvesant.

Anti-racism training would be introduced for contractors and city employees, and a task force would ‘consider the impact of slavery and past injustices for African Americans in New York City and reparations for such injustices’.

‘Explanatory plaques’ would be installed next to any statue not removed and on schools named after them.

Meanwhile an injunction was filed overnight against the Mayor’s plans to set up a shelter for migrants at the historic Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. More than 110,000 asylum seekers have arrived in the city since the Spring of 2022 with New Yorkers paying an average of $385 a night per migrant family.

Mayor Adams has pleaded for federal help in footing the bill and lashed out at Greg Abbott as a ‘madman’ after the Texas governor bussed thousands from his state. READ MORE

New York City Wants To Remove Statues of George Washington and Others To Create Reparations Task Force

The city council is advancing a bid to remove statues of controversial historical figures, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Christopher Columbus.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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End Times

Social Media Reveals The Demonic Spirit Of Violence Openly At Work As The World Continues To Prepare Itself To Meet The Coming Antichrist

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2 days ago

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September 19, 2023

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The New Hampshire father of two who died after an incident at Gillette Stadium during the New England Patriots game Sunday had been punched in the face and knocked unconscious by a Miami Dolphins fan, as the spirit of Antichrist rises

A few weeks ago, we wrapped up our 5-part series on the Mark of the Beast, and in the 5th installment we showed you how the spirit of Antichrist is already alive and working in these closing moments of the Church Age. What does it look like? It looks exactly like a violent fight at a football game that results in the beating death of a man while his wife helplessly looks on. This happened during the Sunday night football game at Patriots stadium.

“And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:” 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (KJB)

Spend 5 minutes on social media, and you will see video after video taken in cities all across America showing violent attacks and beatdowns at fast food restaurants, movie theaters, shopping centers and school hallways. Life was not like this when I was younger, it was not like this 10 years ago. But ever since the events which began in 2020 started, there is an obvious and undeniable spirit of evil that is ever rising and persistent.

Patriots fan dies after getting punched ‘in the face’ by Dolphins supporter at Gillette Stadium: witness

FROM THE NY POST: Dale Mooney, 53, was treated at the scene by EMTs and rushed to a hospital after what had been described as an “apparent medical event,” but was pronounced dead shortly before midnight. A spectator has now claimed that he witnessed a physical altercation between Mooney and a Dolphins fan.

“The Dolphins fan walks over and clearly punches him in the face,” Joey Kilmartin, of Nashua, New Hampshire, told MassLive. “(He) gets knocked out and you can tell right away he’s not OK.”

Kilmartin told the news outlet that Mooney also had gotten into a physical confrontation with other fans toward the end of the fourth quarter. He said Mooney never regained consciousness after being punched and that the EMTs performed CPR on him before rushing him to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro.

Mooney’s wife, Lisa, said she feels “numb” and is seeking answers about the tragedy.

“I want to know what happened. What caused this?” she told WCVB. “I just don’t understand why people have to go to that extreme. Why can’t it just be fun? That’s all it’s supposed to be — a fun family event.” READ MORE

The violent spirit of Antichrist is everywhere you look

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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End Times

The Sustainable Development Goals Summit At The United Nations Today Discussing Mandatory Vaccinations, Digital ID And Sustainable Cities

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3 days ago

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September 18, 2023

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In 2015, more than 190 world leaders committed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to help us all end extreme poverty, fight inequality & injustice, and fix climate change. Bible believers call this the New World Order.

If have haven’t listened to our Podcast today where we told you about a 2003 book called ‘The 2030 Spike’ and why it’s in the library at the CIA, you really should go and listen to it. To say it’s a ‘eye-opener’ would be a severe understatement. One of the things we told you about is the meeting taking place today and tomorrow at the UN called the SDG Summit, which we warned you about back in July. The ‘sustainable development goals’ of the United Nations sound like a good thing, but upon closer inspection, they herald the New World Order.

“Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.” Habakkuk 1:5 (KJB)

Among the many SDG’s the UN is fomenting upon us, we have gender equality, global vaccinations, and of course, digital ID not just for you but for the entire family. Top of the list is the ‘sustainable cities’ mandate which is already underway in a pilot program in 14 American cities right now. It’s all about restricting our movement, confining us in 15-minute cities which is all part of the coming kingdom of Antichrist. The Sustainable Development Goals were developed in 2015, with a target date of 2030 for completion. Things are nearly in place.

The SDG Summit is happening now at the United Nations in New York City

FROM THE UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations will convene the SDG Summit on 18-19 September 2023 at its Headquarters in New York, during the General Assembly high-level week. With the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at midpoint, world leaders will carry out a comprehensive review of the state of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), respond to the impact of multiple and interlocking crises facing the world, and provide high-level political guidance on transformative and accelerated actions towards the target year of 2030.

But the Agenda is a promise, not a guarantee. At the halftime mark, the promise is in deep peril. For the first time in decades, development progress is reversing under the combined impacts of climate disasters, conflict, economic downturn and lingering COVID-19 effects. The SDG Summit serves as a rallying cry to recharge momentum, for world leaders to come together, to reflect on where we stand and resolve to do more. It is a moment to recommit to a vision of the future that ensures no one is left behind. Fundamental shifts in commitment, solidarity, financing and action must put us back on track to end poverty, realize just societies and reset a balanced relationship with the natural world. READ MORE

2023 SDG Summit: Opening by President of UN General Assembly | United Nations

The President of the United Nations General Assembly opening of the 2023 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (SDG Summit) under the auspices of the General Assembly.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Continue Reading

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