A new collaborative paper from four US universities has declared that Amazon Echo devices are using voice data to target ads both within and outside of the Amazon ecosystem. As fears surrounding Big Tech privacy practices reach boiling point, the report unapologetically paints Amazon as a black box when it comes to protecting consumer data. Titled ‘Your Echoes are Heard: Tracking, Profiling, and Ad Targeting in the Amazon Smart Speaker Ecosystem,’ the paper has made a convincing case that Amazon collects consumer interactions with Alexa via Echo smart speakers and passes these onto third parties for monetization purposes. While Amazon has accepted that it tracks voices for recommended purchases within its own ecosystem, it has denied the paper’s accusation that…