Re: Sounds about right
"Amazon does - because it is refusing to say exactly how much is being recorded"
which is insane. The local device should have enough local memory and processing power to be able to buffer and process a few seconds of audio LOCALLY. If it "hears" an activation codeword, then it can record the command and forward it to Amazon or whoever for processing. Having a device that streams the audio direct to Amazon, Google, etc would be meantal.
However given that these things connect over your own wifi, I am sure that some people have already taken the packets apart and worked out what actually gets sent. Even if (as it should be) the audio stream is encrypted, one should be able to determine if the device is sending / receiving anything without codeword activation.
Anyone familiar with such a study?