Amazon Echo can hear and record everything a user says, and this may not be a good thing. Smart home automation has immensely improved because of Internet-enabled devices such as Alexa, but privacy has been a pressing issue as well. Voice assistants such as Google Home and Alexa can hear anything within range, record sensitive conversations, and even upload it to cloud servers.

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Users have been concerned about the personal data the Amazon Echo collects and uploads to Amazon's servers, which could even be shared with third party companies. Some are concerned that law enforcement agencies might soon be involved after police in Arkansas issued a warrant to Amazon to present audio recordings at the scene of a murder.

One way to address these privacy concerns is to shut down Alexa through a kill switch using a circuit board attached to the Amazon Echo via the USB port. The Echo kill switch is not available on the shelves, but it is rather a DIY home project which requires code writing and hardware assembly.

Here is how to do it. The assembly will cost about $100, and things to buy include a Particle Photon mini-board, some wires, and a breadboard that has a USB port, as well as an IFTTT applet which will connect the Particle Photon board to Alexa.

Other options to protect the user's privacy is to mount the device somewhere remote when it is not in use. The user can also delete the recordings from his/her Amazon account.

Alexa is increasingly becoming the preferred voice assistant for smart home devices. A lot of products integrate Alexa, including smart TVs, refrigerators, smartphones, and more.