tHere is a battle that my husband and I have fought since we started living together: whether or not to allow “smart” appliances in our home. An avid gadget fan, he would happily connect all of our household items to the internet so he could control them from his phone. I, a jaded tech journalist, am too paranoid to surround myself with a bunch of information-consuming surveillance machines.
So I felt somewhat justified when I saw the latest story about a seemingly harmless utensil that was apparently too data-hungry. The consumer group Which one? He found that three fryers he tested had connected phone apps that asked for permission to record audio, something you wouldn’t imagine was a critical feature for an object whose sole purpose is to cook food. The devices also wanted to know the exact location of the users.
In my opinion, it is not necessary for a deep fryer, or a refrigerator, or a washing machine, or a toaster, to be connected to the Internet, although I can appreciate that the concept has some merit. One of the main advantages of smart appliances is that they allow remote operation, so you can start a load of laundry to finish right when you get home from work, or check which foods you’re running out of while you’re at work. supermarket. But many of these devices and their connected applications collect high levels of personal information, often with little transparency and despite regulations that are supposed to limit the data they process.
All smart appliances need to collect some data in order to fulfill their promised functions. Audio access, for example, is necessary for voice-activated services (apparently some people really want to talk to their light switches). But devices often request more permissions than they actually need or use. Many of the articles Which ones? reviewed, which also included TVs, speakers, and smart watches, too connected to third party trackers which may monitor data from your device and be used for various purposes, including marketing and advertising.
Many of us have a general feeling that technology collects more personal data than we are comfortable with. There is a popular conspiracy theory that social media apps are spying on our private conversations to show us ads, secretly using our phones’ microphones to capture our desires as consumers: You talk to a friend about a tool you need for a project. DIY and suddenly you find advertisements for electric drills appearing on their social networks.
Despite the persistence of the myth, this It’s almost certainly not happening.according to researchers at Northeastern University in Boston. They tested more than 17,000 apps, including Facebook and Instagram, and found no examples of a microphone being activated unexpectedly or audio being sent without the user’s knowledge.
But if this sounds reassuring, all it really shows is that advertisers don’t need listen to your private chat to serve you ads that are relevant to the point of feeling invasive. They already have enough data on you. And now it turns out that innocent-looking appliance you bought to help make dinner doesn’t respect personal boundaries either.
It’s not just the ability to listen that is a problem: smart devices can spy on us in many ways. Smart doorbells can keep an eye on you when you enter and leave the house, and sports watches can constantly track your location. Even data collection that seems harmless at first glance could reveal more than you might expect. Robot vacuum cleaners could map and share floor plans of your home. Connected sex toys could reveal your bedroom habits. Running apps could reveal the location of your secret military base. Then there is the possibility of abuse. Domestic abusers have used smart doorbells, thermostats and even children’s toys to stalk, monitor and deceive their victims.
As more and more things become “smart,” it becomes harder to resist. My husband managed to introduce an app-enabled color-changing light bulb into our home, but I drew the line at a Ring doorbell—equipping door furniture with eyes and ears seems excessive to me.
However, we actually shouldn’t have to completely avoid smart appliances just to protect our privacy. Despite my complaints, I actually like technology. I would love to use smart devices that make my life easier, but without having to reveal so much personal data. In theory, the regulation already covers this: GDPR States that companies must be transparent about the data they collect and limit data collection to what is necessary. But there’s some room for interpretation about what’s considered “necessary,” and even if companies are honest about how they use our data, how many people read the fine print when simply trying to set up a deep fryer?
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator, will publish new specific guidance for smart device manufacturers in spring 2025. Workshops with a citizen jury earlier this year found that how much The more people learned about how smart devices handle personal information, the less they trusted them. “The overwhelming feeling among participants was that IoT (Internet of Things) products collect an excessive and often unnecessary amount of personal information.” fixed a report prepared for the ICO.
The report proposed several common-sense solutions, including clearer privacy policies with bullets and large text, audio or visual cues to indicate when a smart device is collecting information, reminders about data collection at periodic points in the life of a product and not only during configuration, and a specific and prominent control to accept or not the use of personal data for advertising purposes.
It’s not exactly rocket science. The point is that regulations are only effective if they are enforced, including Which? editor, Harry Rose, points outagainst companies operating from other countries.
In the meantime, it might be a good time to review your phone’s settings and see what each of the apps linked to your appliances has access to. Or join the ranks of grumpy Luddites like me and consider how smart you really need your kitchen utensils to be.