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South Park trolled Amazon Echo owners in the best way possible

Matt Burns

This is one of the minor dangers of owning an Amazon Echo. Most anyone can activate the device by just saying the wake word, including Cartman. And in the season opener of South Park, that’s exactly what happened.

Watch.

If someone watched that episode of South Park in the same room as an Echo, their Amazon shopping list was filled with random, gross items.

This example shows the potential danger of having a voice-activated shopping assistant. It’s easy to imagine a potential rogue advertisement, online or elsewhere, that could, in theory, say the right words to order a particular product — like a South Park box set.

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Matt Burns

Matt is a Managing Editor at TechCrunch.

He started at TechCrunch as a freelance writer in 2008 and moved up the ranks to become the Managing Editor in early 2017. Born and raised in the heart of the automotive world, he has a special place in his heart for mobility startups and gadgets.

At TechCrunch he manages the editorial side of the company’s events including TechCrunch Disrupt, TechCrunch Sessions and the company’s various worldwide events. Previously he was a freelance writer at Engadget and EngadgetHD where he hosted podcasts until he was removed from that role after saying a swear word. He’s very sorry and promises it won’t happen again.

His passions include emails, run-on sentences and following through with action items developed during a conference call. And woodwork.

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