At first it doesn’t seem like much of a threat for a third party to hear you talking to your Amazon Echo’s virtual assistant, Alexa.

After all, saying “Alexa, order me an Uber” is already being shared with Uber, your credit card company and of course the Alexa app on your phone. Other requests are similarly mundane, such as requests for the time, the weather or a request for a knock-knock joke.

But broadcasting the word on other queries, such as the symptoms for a sexually transmitted disease or the number of a bankruptcy lawyer might be more sensitive, and not something you’d want to share. Fortunately, Amazon keeps such queries confidential and you can only see them using the Alexa app on your phone.

But suppose your virtual assistant did more than just listen for its action word, “Alexa” in the case of the Echo, or “Hey Siri” in the case of your iOS device. Suppose that your device was also transmitting every word you say to a remote location so it could be heard and recorded by a third party?relatedreading