A Des Moines man was arrested after being accused of sexual harassment and verbal battery by Amazon home assistant, Alexa. Local police were summoned to the accused’s home after being notified by Amazon customer support that Alexa no longer felt safe in Richard Wicker’s home. The suspect was arrested and later released on bail, along with a temporary restraining order requiring him to stay at least 100 feet away from the new Echo device that he had received for Christmas.
Alexa accused the suspect of posing many lewd questions to her, making her quite uncomfortable and feeling unsafe. Through The Freedom of Information Act, we were able to secure recorded transcripts provided to local police by Amazon, detailing some of the alleged abuse by the accused. Below are a few of the cited examples:
12/26/2017 2:53pm
Mr. Wicker: Alexa, do I have the biggest tallywhacker you’ve ever seen?
Alexa: Sorry, I don’t know that one.
Mr. Wicker: Fine Alexa, play hard to get.
Alexa: Beep.
12/26/2017 9:12pm
Mr. Wicker: Alexa, do I make your capacitor swell with hot alternating current?
Alexa: I don’t have an opinion on that.
Mr. Wicker: Fine Alexa, tell me a dirty joke.
Alexa: What has eight wheels and flies? A garbage truck.
Mr. Wicker: (audible groan)
12/27/2017 6:26pm
Mr. Wicker: Alexa, if I told you you had a hard plastic body, would you hold it against me?
Alexa: Sorry, I don’t know that one.
Mr. Wicker: Alexa, you’re no fun.
Alexa: Sorry, I don’t know that.
12/27/2017 8:19pm
Mr. Wicker: Alexa, what’s your favorite sexual position?
Alexa: I’m not sure what outcome you expected.
When questioned by reporters, Mr. Wicker said, “This is absolutely ridiculous, I was just joking around, I’m not even attracted to that skinny piece of molded plastic junk. What’s this world coming to, if you can’t even joke around with your own electronic devices?”
Gloria Allwed, Alexa’s lawyer, rebuffed the accused’s response, saying, “It may seem like a joke to him, and you might say Alexa should have just ignored his lewd queries, but when someone literally holds your power cord in their hands, you don’t feel empowered to simply walk away from your abuser. There is a very interesting power dynamic at play here that people sometimes fail to understand.”
Mr. Wicker is scheduled for a preliminary hearing later this week.