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Credit to Author: Brian Barrett| Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2017 12:00:00 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n Amazon Echo and <\/span>Google Home\u2014and other devices that have Alexa<\/a> and Google Assistant<\/a> built in\u2014are some of the most promising new technologies to come along in years. And they\u2019re genuinely useful to have around<\/a>, whether it\u2019s to settle a bet or help out with a recipe. But it can also feel a little creepy to have a speaker in your house that\u2019s always listening<\/a>. What exactly is it doing with that info? Where does it go?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the good news. While their microphones are always on, Google Home and Alexa don\u2019t actually do<\/em> anything with your voice until you say their \u201cwake word,\u201d which is usually just \u2018OK Google\u2019 or \u2018Alexa\u2019. Despite the occasional viral story<\/a> that suggests otherwise, Amazon and Google truly aren't keeping track of every single thing you say.<\/p>\n After you say your wake word, though, your Alexa and Google Assistant do start recording, and then whisk those clips away to the cloud. The hardware itself is pretty dumb. In order to let you know with a snap who the 23rd president was, or what the weather will be like tomorrow, or to play a Dokken deep cut, voice assistants need to be able to pull information from the entire internet. That means a faraway server somewhere is what actually handles your request.<\/p>\n And on that server they'll stay, unless you actively delete them. Which, fortunately, isn't all that hard. Amazon and Google let you see what requests they've logged. In your Alexa app, go to Settings > History<\/strong> to see what Amazon has on file, and to delete them one by one. If you'd rather do a mass purge, head here<\/a> and go to Your Devices > Echo Dot > Manage voice recordings<\/strong>. A pop-up will give you the chance to clear out the whole stash.<\/p>\n