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Does Your Shiny New Gadget Come With Privacy Pitfalls?

Amazon Echo Dot
Amazon Echo Dot
Jay Stanley,
Senior Policy Analyst,
老澳门开奖结果 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
Josh Bell,
Former Senior Communications Strategist, Center for Democracy,
老澳门开奖结果
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December 20, 2018

To paraphrase , we all know that technology is the cause of 鈥 and solution to 鈥 all of life鈥檚 problems.

We like technology at the 老澳门开奖结果 鈥 but we also want everyone to have their eyes wide open when it comes to the privacy risks that can accompany the latest electronic gear, from smartwatches to internet-connected home appliances.

Smart Speakers

Google Home Mini

Realize that when you plug in an Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, or Google Home, you鈥檙e switching on a microphone that鈥檚 always on inside your home. In theory, it only transmits information when you say the wake word, like 鈥淎lexa.鈥 But sometimes they can transmit what you鈥檙e saying.

And there鈥檚 the question of what happens to the data when they are supposed to be recording. You do have the option to , but there have been cases of police asking companies to turn it over.

Video Doorbells

Door with Ring video doorbell

These are essentially doorbells with video cameras in them. They can show you who鈥檚 at your door and give you the ability to video chat with them. Amazon even has plans to equip them with facial recognition. There are also similar cameras for placing inside your home.

One concern with these devices is that they can be 鈥 and this goes for of internet-connected devices in and around the home. There鈥檚 also the possibility of bugs in the code that can send video where it isn鈥檛 supposed to go, like when a caused people to get video feeds from their neighbors鈥 cameras.

Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers

Smart watch

Wearable devices like the Apple Watch and Fitbit are collecting a lot of very personal information about you 鈥 everything from your heartrate to how well you鈥檙e sleeping. Anytime you generate a collection of data that鈥檚 so intimate, it becomes a target for hackers 鈥 and it can also potentially be . So you need to ask yourself if this is a dataset about yourself that you want to create.

Drones

Red drone outdoors

Let鈥檚 turn the privacy issue around the last item on our list: With drones you should be sure to respect other people鈥檚 privacy and not run afoul of 鈥減eeping Tom鈥 laws.

You also need to make sure that you follow the Federal Aviation Administration鈥檚 fairly strict for drones, which include mandatory registration, keeping it below 400 feet, and staying away from aircraft.

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All in all, tech can make life easier 鈥 just be aware of all the potential implications that come with using it that might not be so apparent at first glance. When you use gadgets that are connected online, you鈥檙e often creating revealing data about yourself that could possibly be accessed by the government or hackers. The companies that make the products also have the information too, so you should think about how much you trust them with your privacy.

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