CES 2018 – Cone of Silence PrivacyShield sound blocker for smart speakers (i.e. Amazon Echo & Google Home)

For my family, smart speakers like the Amazon Echo or Google Home are an essential part of how we interact with the home automation (HA) system, intercom between rooms, and casually listen to music. The privacy implications of this aren’t that concerning for us as I don’t think we’re interesting enough for Amazon, Google, the NSA, or really anyone else to find any value eaves dropping on the mundane conversations at our house. But, for those who are, or are just paranoid the Cone of Silence PrivacyShield might be exactly what you’re looking for.

The PrivacyShield is essentially a hat that you place on the smart speaker (Amazon Echo or Google Home) that when enabled overwhelms the device’s microphone with a special frequency of white noise.

When it ships in July (Echo) and August (Home) the PrivacyShield will only cost $27. Which isn’t bad considering the 100 hours of battery life provided by the micro USB rechargeable lithium battery provided.