Your Hi-Tech Gadget is Watching You …
A friend pointed us to a recent articlepublished by the Brennan Center for Justice that discusses the transformation of household gadgets into spying devices. The author bought a new TV, and after reading the 46 pages of “privacy policy” in the manual, is apparently apprehensive about turning it on. Actually, “privacy policy” seems a misnomer. It would be more accurate to rename it “spying policy”.
An excerpt from the article:
I just bought a new TV. The old one had a good run, but after the volume got stuck on 63, I decided it was time to replace it. I am now the owner of a new “smart” TV, which promises to deliver streaming multimedia content, games, apps, social media, and Internet browsing. Oh, and TV too. The only problem is that I’m now afraid to use it. You would be too — if you read through the 46-page privacy policy.
The amount of data this thing collects is staggering. It logs where, when, how, and for how long you use the TV. It sets tracking cookies and beacons designed to detect “when you have viewed particular content or a particular email message.” It records “the apps you use, the websites you visit, and how you interact with content.” It ignores “do-not-track” requests as a considered matter of policy.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
