9yo boy faces charges after Amazon Echo records him during break-in
A nine-year-old Massachusetts boy has been charged with breaking and entering into his neighbor’s home after the Amazon Echo virtual assistant he stole recorded him.
Along with the Echo, the young boy is accused of stealing an iPhone, a phone charger, $46 in cash, and an Amazon package, the Gloucester Times reported.
According to a police report, the boy repeatedly broke in through a first-floor screen door on the backside of the house three times in the last week.
The boy was identified because the neighbor had a feature on her phone that allowed her to receive audio recordings from the Echo device. After listening to one take during one of the alleged break-ins, she told police she thought she recognized the voice of her neighbor’s nine-year-old boy.
‘This is how it ends’: #Assange on privacy fears over #Amazon’s voice-controlled ‘style assistant’ https://t.co/TMyyQ9sTvwpic.twitter.com/FBqh1HzkT2
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After police spoke to the child, he admitted to breaking into the woman’s home three separate times, and taking the items that matched the list of missing items.
The boy eventually showed police where he had hidden the stolen items, and officers returned the stolen items to the woman. Officers kept the Alexa as evidence as it had sustained damage.
The police report does not include any statements from the child or the mother as to his reasons for the thefts.
The child will face charges in juvenile court, according to the Gloucester Times.