Have you ever wondered if your smart devices are spying on you? How do they know so much about you? And how do they know what you are thinking?
Some gadgets present in your house can keep track of your routine after asking the user’s permission to do so. In such times, this breakthrough in technology can be quite beneficial, like in giving us regular reminders of our schedules, notifying us in case of a problem, and also understanding our behaviors and presenting with solutions. But this feature also does come with a dark secret, i.e. the security of our personal data.
Now, why should you be worried about this?
Because most of these gadgets have become a part of our everyday lives, we should know what they are capable of. At the end of this post, you will get the answers to the questions that are going through your mind right now, including:
- Are they actually spying or is it just a myth?
- How do they know so much about you?
- What are the consequences of this knowledge?
- What precautions should you take?
It’s no longer a mystery that data is the new currency. You must have heard of complicated terms like machine-learning, data-mining, artificial intelligence they all work on the principle of making informed decisions and understanding the behavior by visualizing data, and where does this data come from? The gadgets you so frequently use in your daily life.
These gadgets are more likely to understand our behavior and make some informed decisions based on our routine activities. This breakthrough in technology has been quite helpful in many conditions, like facilitating us with relevant information and options, making our daily lives much easier.
But excess of anything can cause problems, and the same goes for this technology. While it does play a part to make its users happy, it can be a major challenge when it comes to privacy of the same user’s data and activities.
We will now discuss the 3 most popular gadgets about which you should be concerned, as they are most likely to be present at your home and part of your daily life.
Alexa or Google Home:
Amazon reported about 220 Million Alexa devices and about 60 Million Google Home devices sold in 2019, which sums up to about 280 Million potential data points. These devices are capable of much more than just playing music and turning your lights off and on.
Although Alexa or Google Home has made lives much easier, there have been a lot of discussions about whether these devices record our conversations even when they are turned off. Many people believe so, but there is still no proof of it. Whereas authorities claim that they only intervene when you have turned them on and have allowed access
What you can do as an end-user?
We know that these devices are of great help in our routine lives, but with all these conflicts mentioned above, we must use them with certain precautions i.e. try to avoid having confidential conversions around these devices or make sure we properly turn them off.
Smartphones:
The closest thing to any person nowadays is their smartphone. A person normally spends about 2 hours and 55 minutes on it every day. These phones run our lives and have every bit of data that’s important to us. And because of that, we need to know what privacy measures to take to keep that data safe.
Less than 10% of people consider themselves knowledgeable about privacy. And half of the respondents rarely check data that apps claim they will collect while being installed. These days smartphones come with a lot of pre-installed apps that take access to your contacts, social media platforms, and other applications, and often we tap to allow access without even giving it a read.
However, smartphone features such as cameras and microphones serve as access points. Some tech firms are operating on a data generation model and use these access points for data collection and using this personal information for trading and other purposes. As a user, we should be concerned about the permissions we allow via applications and its built-in features.
Laptops
For many customers, laptops have become a personal computing system of choice, with their meteoric rise coming mainly at the expense of the desktop-PC.
Just like smartphones, laptops are no different. We have observed Mark Zuckerberg and others covering the webcams of their systems, (As Gizmodo points out, this really does appear to be Zuckerberg’s desk; the same setup was shown in a Facebook Live video last year.) Which shows that there’s more to those webcams than what meets the eye.
These laptops also serve as an access point for both ethical and unethical approaches. There are approximately 1 Million known computer viruses and 15 million consumers fell victim to identity theft in 2019. These are effectively targeting your personal data, and if you’re not concerned about it, then you may be the next victim.
How does all this work?
The most common and ethical use of this data collection is using it for advertisements and promotions.
Many people see ads for things they’ve just asked about, it is simply an example of a common cognitive bias.
Let’s understand it through a scenario.
Consider a workplace with three people: A, B, and C, with their smartphones connected to the same network.
Let’s assume Person A is searching about bedsheets, and while searching, they also discuss it with their friend Person B. Person C just heard this conversation, which is now unconsciously present in their mind.
Now, what happens is when person C, who has not searched nor has an interest in that product, starts seeing ads related to it. Since person C was previously connected to a network where people around them searched about that product, so despite being on a separate network, they would still get to see that product ads.
What are the consequences?
The risks of data security continue to grow as more of the physical world becomes interconnected with the Internet. They can easily turn aspects of life that were once thought of sacred and safe into a weapon.
“There will come a time when it isn’t ‘They’re spying on me through my phone’ anymore. Eventually, it will be ‘My phone is spying on me’.” –Philip K. Dick
It is possible to use even the most innocent of gadgets for malicious purposes. It’s no longer a secret that the ratio of blackmailing and distortion cases are increasing day by day, and since the gadgets mentioned above are present in almost every house, using them daily and not understanding the problems which could be caused is not fair to yourself.
So in order to avoid any casualties in the future, you must be aware of the permissions you are granting to applications on your smartphones.
What precautions can you take?
Here are some precautions which you should consider while using these kinds of gadgets:
- Take some time but always read the privacy policy document of the application or gadget you are going to use.
- Try not to grant access to your personal details or access points such as cameras and microphones.
- Keep yourself away from spam applications.
- Make sure you turn off these devices when having confidential conversations.
Let’s take a recap of what we learned today. Gadgets interfering in our daily life is not a myth; they do so with their capabilities of machine learning and artificial intelligence, plus they can also easily become a means for hackers to gain access to our data. While availing of the benefits of these emerging technologies, it’s our responsibility that we should also take necessary precautions.
