A method for discriminately providing audible responses to a voice command received by a user device that supports voice activation, the method comprising: detecting, by the user device, a first pre-established, audible activation command that activates the user device; in response to detecting the first pre-established, audible activation command, producing, by the user device, a first audible acknowledgement that is audible at least within a loudspeaker proximity of the user device; monitoring, by the user device, for detection of at least one second audible acknowledgement produced by another user device within a pre-set time interval; in response to not detecting the at least one second audible acknowledgement within the pre-set time interval, processing, by the user device, a received audible command and providing an audible response to the received audible command; and characterized in that: in response to detecting the at least one second audible acknowledgement within the pre-set time interval, triggering, by the user device, entry into a privacy mode of audible command input according to a configuration of privacy mode settings by: (i) generating a challenge requesting confirmation that the first pre-established, audible activation command originated from an authorized user of the user device, receiving a confirmation response to the challenge, and in response to the received confirmation response being verified as a pre-established confirmation response that is assigned to the user device, processing the received audible command and providing the audible response to the received audible command; or, according to a different configuration of the privacy mode settings: (ii) reverting at least temporarily to a hand-held mode of the user device requiring direct interaction with a user interface of the user device; and producing, by the user device, a privacy mode announcement via at least one of a display or a sound producing component (160; 162), the privacy mode announcement indicating that multiple devices were detected and that loudspeaker playback is disabled. detecting, by the user device, a first pre-established, audible activation command that activates the user device; in response to detecting the first pre-established, audible activation command, producing, by the user device, a first audible acknowledgement that is audible at least within a loudspeaker proximity of the user device; monitoring, by the user device, for detection of at least one second audible acknowledgement produced by another user device within a pre-set time interval; in response to not detecting the at least one second audible acknowledgement within the pre-set time interval, processing, by the user device, a received audible command and providing an audible response to the received audible command; and characterized in that: in response to detecting the at least one second audible acknowledgement within the pre-set time interval, triggering, by the user device, entry into a privacy mode of audible command input according to a configuration of privacy mode settings by: (i) generating a challenge requesting confirmation that the first pre-established, audible activation command originated from an authorized user of the user device, receiving a confirmation response to the challenge, and in response to the received confirmation response being verified as a pre-established confirmation response that is assigned to the user device, processing the received audible command and providing the audible response to the received audible command; or, according to a different configuration of the privacy mode settings: (ii) reverting at least temporarily to a hand-held mode of the user device requiring direct interaction with a user interface of the user device; and producing, by the user device, a privacy mode announcement via at least one of a display or a sound producing component (160; 162), the privacy mode announcement indicating that multiple devices were detected and that loudspeaker playback is disabled. in response to detecting the at least one second audible acknowledgement within the pre-set time interval, triggering, by the user device, entry into a privacy mode of audible command input according to a configuration of privacy mode settings by: (i) generating a challenge requesting confirmation that the first pre-established, audible activation command originated from an authorized user of the user device, receiving a confirmation response to the challenge, and in response to the received confirmation response being verified as a pre-established confirmation response that is assigned to the user device, processing the received audible command and providing the audible response to the received audible command; (i) generating a challenge requesting confirmation that the first pre-established, audible activation command originated from an authorized user of the user device, or, according to a different configuration of the privacy mode settings: (ii) reverting at least temporarily to a hand-held mode of the user device requiring direct interaction with a user interface of the user device; and producing, by the user device, a privacy mode announcement via at least one of a display or a sound producing component (160; 162), the privacy mode announcement indicating that multiple devices were detected and that loudspeaker playback is disabled.