Sound Quality versus Privacy – What is more important to a lawyer in a smart speaker?

MacRumors came out with an article comparing the mini-smart speakers currently on the market. The candidates are the Amazon's Echo, Apple’s Homepod mini and Google's Nest Audio. They all retail for about $99. It looks like hands down the Echo and Nest beat the Homepod-mini for quality and depth of music.

The audio specs break down:

Echo: 76mm woofer and two 20mm tweeters.

‌HomePod mini‌: Full range driver and dual passive radiators.
Nest Audio: 75mm woofer and one 19mm tweeter.

BUT IS SOUND QUALITY WORTH THE TRUE “COST” OF THE DEVICE:

Certainly, if you are vested in the Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant platforms, I can see the draw to remain in the respective platforms’ microverse. But sound quality and smart-assistant integration are not THE major concern for attorneys – It’s Privacy!

Amazon Alex and Google Assistant do not have a great reputation for protecting your privacy. Apple Homepods have had its share of fairly recent problems too! But Apple’s Siri is more active in protecting your privacy. The inherency of its “sandboxed” software makes it more likely prying eyes 👀 (or in this case ears 👂🦻!) will not be obtaining your private or your client’s confidential information!

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY ALERT!
Remember, the Model Rules of Professional Conduct require you have to be both competent in your use of technology in your office Rule 1.1 [8] and take reasonable efforts to ensure your client’s information is protected, Rule 1.6 (c).

Granted, I am a Mac user in my private practice. So, I would naturally gravitate toward Homepods. But I do use Windows machines when it comes to the blog. And IMHO the overall risk right now in buying an Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant is just not worth risk – even with the discounts you may be finding on Amazon!

MTC

Happy Lawyering!!!