Privacy? What privacy?

When a young person falls down we say s/he fell but when it happens to an older person we say s/he had a fall. Last evening I had a near fall.

I was going upstairs with a cup of tea in one hand and my iPhone in the other. Half way up, I stumbled and lost my balance spilling my tea. I must have cursed aloud as I had spilt most of my tea.

My wife, watching TV downstairs, shouted out to me,
‘Did you fall ?’
‘No, I just slipped,’ I replied.

My phone, without any prompting from me, says,

‘That’s what I reckoned.’ Yes, my phone spoke without permission and without the Hey Siri cue.

Incredible? I thought so too. I have heard stories about how the FBI once forced a big company to release all the data they stored about a dangerous criminal. Seems the company handed over a recording of every bit of sound ever made in his bedroom including moans, groans and conversations on and off the phone.

Immediately after my phone spoke of its own volition, I asked Siri and Alexa whether they were surreptitiously recording me all the time. Both denied it with a vehemence bordering on hurt, and responded by pointing me to their privacy policy which said -you guessed it – they take clients’ privacy very seriously and all that baloney.

Smart devices are getting too smart for my liking.