Text 1 　　ANY sufficiently advanced technology, noted Arthur C. Clarke, a British science-fiction writer, is indistinguishable from magic. The fast-emerging technology of voice computing proves his point. 　　The Amazon Echo, a voice-driven cylindrical computer, can call up music tracks and radio stations, tell jokes, answer trivia questions and control smart appliances; even before Christmas it was already resident in about 4% of American households. Voice assistants are proliferating in smartphones too: Apple's Siri handles over 2bn commands a week, and 20% of Google searches on Android-powered handsets in America are input by voice. 　　However, consumers and regulators should have a role to play in determining how voice computing develops. Even in its current, relatively primitive form, the technology poses a dilemma: voice-driven systems are most useful when they are personalized, and are granted wide access to sources of data such as calendars, e-mails and other sensitive information. That raises privacy and security concerns. 　　Some people are already concerned about the implications of internet-connected microphones listening in every room and from every smartphone. Not all audio is sent to the cloud, but when it comes to storing audio, it is unclear who keeps what and when. Police investigating a murder in Arkansas, which may have been overheard by an Amazon Echo, have asked the company for access to any audio that might have been captured. Amazon has refused to cooperate, arguing that the legal status of such requests is unclear. The situation is similar to Apple's refusal in 2016 to help FBI investigators unlock a terrorist's iPhone. 　　Consumers will adopt voice computing even if such issues remain unresolved. In many situations voice is far more convenient and natural than any other means of communication. Uniquely, it can also be used while doing something else (driving, working out or walking down the street). Computerized simultaneous translation could render the need to speak a foreign language irrelevant for many people. The arrival of the touchscreen was the last big shift in the way humans interact with computers, and the leap to speech matters more. 　　Voice will not wholly replace other forms of input and output. Sometimes it will remain more convenient to converse with a machine by typing rather than talking. But voice is destined to account for a growing share of people's interactions with the technology around them. To reach its full potential, the technology requires further breakthroughs—and a resolution of the thorny questions it raises around the balance between convenience and privacy.