Hello to all, I'm a new comer to home automation and doing my best to understand it as best as possible. Any information you can provide will be much appreciated!
Isn't there a contradiction in using Alexa, Google Assistant or Sonos which are cloud based with Hubitat which runs locally, that is when it comes to data privacy?
Thank you in advance.
That is up to each to user to decide what cloud services they integrate with their local hub. Since many things are only cloud based, you either integrate them or do without those features.
Voice control requires an AI in the cloud, So choose your poison if you want it.
For example if you have an EcoBee thermostat, then you will be doing cloud integration to be able to control it. On the flipside you could install a Zwave thermostat and be completely local.
Doesn't worry me enough go through the expense and work of replacing my EcoBee's.
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Our sonos integration is local.
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If this is a concern for you, you don't have to use these features--they are optional integrations. What makes Hubitat's Alexa implementation different from, say, SmartThings', is that Hubitat doesn't keep a cache of the data in the cloud--the communication goes from your Echo to the Amazon cloud, the Amazon cloud to your local Hubitat instance via Hubitat's cloud endpoint, and then back in reverse. (This does make it a bit slower sometimes but it's usually not problematic--or it could be a problem on Amazon's side. It's rare in any case.) So nothing is really stored in the cloud, just accessible from it.
Whether this is an acceptable compromise is up to you. 
There's currently no other way to make Alexa work with it, if you choose to do so, however--Alexa requires cloud processing.
Thank you for your quick response!
Mike, Regarding Sonos, you use it as a Voice Assistant running locally and it does not record and stores the data in some remote cloud storage?
Rudy, thank you for the article, there has been more than few of these "accidents" with smart speakers which should make anyone that has them skeptical of having them.
Have any of you heard of Mycroft Mark2, it's suppose to be an open source voice assistant that lets you decide what to do with your data.
Appreciate the help.
My regards,
