For all you Cam Pan v3 users…Apparently when you ask Alexa to show you a cam pan v3 it allows sound to be heard on Echo Show 8…kinda against invasion of privacy laws…MUST be fixed!!..This is an excerpt from discussion with Wyze
Alyssa M.
Upon further reviewing, there is currently no option to turn off the sound of the camera through Alexa. Thanks for bringing this idea to us.
And how is that an invasion of privacy?
If I am asking one of MY Alexa Devices on MY Alexa Account to show ME one of MY Wyze Cams linked by ME from MY Wyze Account, I would expect to be provided with BOTH Video and Audio.
I’m not a Lawyer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once. And I am also at a loss for understanding where the privacy issues arise. Please provide direct reference to the USC that is in question here.
I just thought that if u had a camera indoors and someone is visiting having a private conversation that you would be able to hear them don’t ya think?
Don’t think u would want someone listening in would you?
You do realize that your Amazon Alexa devices
ALL have a “Drop In” function where you can listen in to any conversation near that Alexa device on your phone from anywhere you are? No cam required.
You also don’t need Alexa to view the Live Stream Video or hear the Audio on any of your cams. All you need is the Wyze App on your phone, from anywhere you are. That is sort of the purpose for installing them.
If you install an Alexa Device in your home, or install a Wyze cam indoors or outdoors… It is your home. You control the amount of “privacy” guests have. The device doesn’t decide that for you by its features.
Who would listen in? If you have a good security awareness level and use strong unique passwords and other layers like 2fa for your different accounts then you should be fairly safe from having others access your accounts. Alexa devices are always listening to their surroundings, that’s why they hear “Alexa” and perk up. Check your voice history in the Alexa app, I do and have found some interesting stuff along the way.
You’ll can always re-evaluate your camera needs when you have visitors. Options are to unplug or remove cameras. You could also face them down or move them behind other objects. Personally I like having some indoor cameras because it helps me find my key sets when I forget where I put them or keep tabs on our kitties. But if we have family or someone over for an extended period of time I do face them to the wall or remove them because I don’t want my visitor to be uncomfortable.
OK
No biggie to you but sorta is to me
Do as u wish
I think your concerns are mostly a misunderstanding. Regardless, there are plenty of options:
You can disable the Wyze skill from Alexa, and then Alexa doesn’t have any access anymore.
You can also set your Pan V3 into “privacy mode” or turn it off, and it doesn’t have video or audio access anymore.
Some people go as far as to open the camera up and disconnect the microphone entirely.
Note: Nobody on the Alexa team has access to your cameras (audio or video) anyway. When you stream a Wyze camera to your Alexa Show, if they are on the same network then they actually connect locally through the WebRTC protocol. None of the audio or video even goes through Amazon’s servers (or even through Wyze’s server) and the audio and video of that stream between your camera live stream and the Alexa Show never even leaves your house. No Amazon employee or contractor has access to it in that case.
As for the routines, Wyze server PUSHES the triggers through to Amazon. So if you ask Amazon to do something when your camera detects a person, Amazon never gets the video or audio from the camera to do that, the Wyze AI server detects the person and then tells Alexa that it detected a person, and then Alexa does what you told it to do, not because it saw the person but because Wyze let them know there was a person because you asked the Wyze skill to let them know that.
Some camera companies do actually give Google or Alexa access to their cloud videos or other recordings, but Wyze does not. So there is no possible way for Google or Alexa to access anything, either live or saved cloud events if you’re just using it on your local network.
If you are really concerned about your privacy though, then just make sure the camera and the Alexa display are on the same network. Then everything stays local. the live stream never even leaves your home/router. If that is not good enough, then disable the Wyze Alexa skill. If you need Alexa for other Wyze devices, consider putting the cameras on a separate Wyze account not linked to Alexa. You can also go disconnect the microphone. But keep in mind that Wyze cameras use a cloud-dependent paradigm. They NEED internet. If privacy is a really big priority, you should be using cameras that never connect to the cloud under any conditions.
I think your concerns are mostly a misunderstanding of what the Wyze Alexa skill does or how it works, but regardless, there are multiple things you can do about those concerns as described above.
I believeI understand what you are saying…the point i am trying to make is not that amazon can listen in…it is the fact that the individual that owns the camera ( an unscrupulous individual ) could listen in on whoever they wanted to even if the camera was pointed and locked in such a way that the person being listened in on would not know. Doesn’t happen with a plain ordinary V3 camera…just cam pan
| carverofchoice Forum Maven
October 23 |
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I think your concerns are mostly a misunderstanding. Regardless, there are plenty of options:
You can disable the Wyze skill from Alexa, and then Alexa doesn’t have any access anymore.
You can also set your Pan V3 into “privacy mode” or turn it off, and it doesn’t have video or audio access anymore.
Some people go as far as to open the camera up and disconnect the microphone entirely.
Note: Nobody on the Alexa team has access to your cameras (audio or video) anyway. When you stream a Wyze camera to your Alexa Show, if they are on the same network then they actually connect locally through the WebRTC protocol. None of the audio or video even goes through Amazon’s servers (or even through Wyze’s server) and the audio and video of that stream between your camera live stream and the Alexa Show never even leaves your house. No Amazon employee or contractor has access to it in that case.
As for the routines, Wyze server PUSHES the triggers through to Amazon. So if you ask Amazon to do something when your camera detects a person, Amazon never gets the video or audio from the camera to do that, the Wyze AI server detects the person and then tells Alexa that it detected a person, and then Alexa does what you told it to do, not because it saw the person but because Wyze let them know there was a person because you asked the Wyze skill to let them know that.
Some camera companies do actually give Google or Alexa access to their cloud videos or other recordings, but Wyze does not. So there is no possible way for Google or Alexa to access anything, either live or saved cloud events if you’re just using it on your local network.
If you are really concerned about your privacy though, then just make sure the camera and the Alexa display are on the same network. Then everything stays local. the live stream never even leaves your home/router. If that is not good enough, then disable the Wyze Alexa skill. If you need Alexa for other Wyze devices, consider putting the cameras on a separate Wyze account not linked to Alexa. You can also go disconnect the microphone. But keep in mind that Wyze cameras use a cloud-dependent paradigm. They NEED internet. If privacy is a really big priority, you should be using cameras that never connect to the cloud under any conditions.
I think your concerns are mostly a misunderstanding of what the Wyze Alexa skill does or how it works, but regardless, there are multiple things you can do about those concerns as described above.
Ah, I see. Then your concern has nothing to do with Alexa, specifically. A camera owner can just use the Wyze app directly on their phone. The same can be said for basically every single camera on the market that has a microphone though.
Why not? I have non-pan cameras in my house and my backyard (V3’s included) and I can hear everything said in every major room of my house (my living room, my dining room, kitchen, my den, my home office), and I can hear everything said on my backyard patio, and in my swimming pool, and my backyard playground, and none of those are using a Pan camera, but they all have microphones and record talking in those major areas.
People can go talk in super-secret in the bedrooms, bathrooms, smaller rooms, etc where there are no cameras.
If there are concerns about the person being unscrupulous in some way, I would highly recommend not ever hanging out around that person in the first place, especially not at their house. Doesn’t matter if they are family, neighbors, friends, etc. If you have serious integrity concerns, just let them go. Life is too short to keep stressing about being around someone you don’t trust/like.
In this case, I would say the problem isn’t the camera as much as it is the person.
I just tested my V3 Cams, PanV1, PanV3, V3Pro, OG, and FLP cams. All of them stream Video and Audio thru Alexa.
Sorry…what I forgot to mention is that it only happens on the cam pan v3 even when the sound is turned off on the camera. Alexa can still hear sound on the cam pan when the sound icon is off…not so on the v3
Anyways…just my thoughts
Wyze thought enough that they are looking into it they said
New information that totally changes things. That is an Alexa or Wyze Skill bug with the specific Alexa device you are using and the coding for that button. I just tested PanV3 in my Alexa App and Alexa Fire TV. The Alexa App speaker mute works (Android). The Fire TV uses the TV Mute so that doesn’t really count.
Thanks for clarifying!
Latest response from Wyze
Louise (Wyze)
Oct 24, 2023, 8:56 AM PDT
Hi Gord,
Thank you for your patience! I hope you’re doing well today. This is Louise, one of the tech specialist here at Wyze. I’ll be taking over on behalf of my colleague. I understand you’d like to disable sound detection from Alexa. I’m here to assist you further!
We can only unlink and relink the cameras to Alexa, however, based from your recent interaction it looks like this troubleshooting step has not resolved the issue. I would strongly suggest contacting Alexa support since we do not have any access to make any adjustments to the Alexa app.
Let me know if there’s anything else I can assist you with.
Best regards,
Here is a cool video on deleting the microphone on a v3 (not Pan v3) if anyone is interested.
It appears that you are describing here a completely different issue than what Wyze Support is discussing.
“Sound Detection” is a setting within the Cam Event Recording menu that allows the cam to upload a 12s video and send you a Push Notification to your phone alerting you that a sound was detected.
It is NOT the same as not being able to “Mute” the Audio stream using the speaker button from within an Alexa Display Device.
Which icon? can you send a screen shot?
If the “record sound” is toggled off in the cameras advanced settings, it will not record sound, but will still have sound if you live stream view the camera.
If you touch the screen on the cam pan v3 it shows a mic and a sound speaker
These?
The speaker controls either mute or allow you to hear sound coming from the camera, and the microphone allows you to speak into your phone or tablet and it is played on the speaker of the camera. Those are only for live stream and do not affect recording.
I’m not worried about recording
The issue is live stream
Try it yourself
