The Echo Show, a connected speaker (illustration). - AMAZON

Computer researchers at the University of Chicago have created a bracelet that prevents your conversations from being recorded. The particularly imposing prototype blurs the microphones of the connected speakers and other devices capable of picking up sounds.

The object has 24 mini speakers which emit ultrasonic signals picked up by the connected devices on request. These very high frequency sounds, however, are not detectable by the human ear, except that of young people, says the New York Times . Some dogs are also likely to hear them.

2 computer science professors have designed a piece of digital armor: a “bracelet of silence” that will jam any other microphones in the vicinity from listening in on the wearer's conversationshttps: //t.co/3VpOkrtEgP

- The New York Times (@nytimes) February 14, 2020

A "useful defense"

The idea for the "bracelet of silence" came when this couple of researchers equipped themselves in 2019 with an Echo smart speaker working with Amazon's Alexa assistant system. Ben Zhao bought the connected device to listen to music but his wife Heather Zheng did not see the arrival of the device with a good eye. She asked her husband to unplug it, fearing the activity of the microphones always on.

From this disagreement was born the bracelet project, for which the two experts received the help of Professor Pedro Lopes. “It's so easy to record now. It is a useful defense ”, indicates this last. “When you want to say something personal, you activate [the device] in real time. If you replay the recording, the sound will no longer appear there. "

One in five Americans would now own a smart speaker. Faced with the consequences on the private life of such a phenomenon, the “bracelet of silence” has aroused the interest of several investors. Ultimately, the device could be sold at a price of 20 dollars (just over 18 euros).

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