First Apple vs. FBI, now Amazon vs. Police

Back in Nov. 2015, James Andrew Bates (31) was charged with first-degree murder after a man named Victor Collins (47) was found dead in Bates’ hot tub. Since Bates owned a few connected devices, including a Nest thermostat, a Honeywell alarm system, and an Amazon Echo, the Arkansas Police turned to Amazon requesting intel in the form of audio recordings, transcribed records, and other text records from Bates’ Echo; because Echo always listens and sometimes records. Keep that in mind. So far, Amazon declined to give police any of the information that the Echo logged on its servers, but it did hand over Bates’ account details and purchases. Bates’ attorney is relieved. Read in the context of Apple vs. the FBI in San Bernardino case. Bottom Line: smart home devices might start playing a larger role in future criminal investigations. One more example noted below.