In the age of “smart” everything, who knew that even your air fryer could be keeping tabs on you? According to a study by Which? magazine, many of the latest popular gadgets are doing more than just cooking dinner or tracking your steps—they’re quietly gathering data and sending it off to servers you probably didn’t authorize. And it’s not just your devices at home either; it’s the entire internet-connected ecosystem these companies are so eager to get into every corner of our lives.
Take air fryers, for example. In a rather surprising discovery, brands like Aigostar, Xiaomi, and Cosori aren’t just heating up your fries—they’re also tracking your location and requesting audio permissions on your phone. Why a kitchen appliance would need to know where you are or have access to your phone’s microphone is anyone’s guess, but these brands seem determined to gather as much personal data as they can.
Xiaomi’s app, for instance, is loaded with trackers from Facebook, TikTok’s ad network, Pangle, and even Tencent, the Chinese tech giant. All this information-gathering is supposedly disclosed in privacy notices, but you’d have to be Sherlock Holmes to dig that deep while setting up an appliance. And yet, here we are, finding out the hard way that our kitchen gadgets might just be watching us.
Smart speakers are no better. Bose, Amazon Echo, and Google Nest Mini all come with a built-in payload of trackers. The Bose Portable Home Speaker app requires fewer permissions upfront, which sounds nice, but is still stuffed with trackers from Facebook, Google, and digital marketing firm Urbanairship. While Amazon does at least offer some ways to skip certain data-sharing requests, both Amazon and Google require you to use their accounts to even operate the devices, making opting out of all trackers nearly impossible.
Wearables like smartwatches are also taking advantage of user data. Huawei’s Ultimate smartwatch, for example, requests a staggering nine permissions, including access to your exact location, your stored files, and even the list of other apps you have installed on your phone. Huawei claims all this is necessary to offer “useful” features, but it sounds more like an excuse to dive head-first into users’ private lives. Meanwhile, lesser-known brands like Kuzil and WeurGhy make sure that if you don’t grant permission to share data, their smartwatches operate as little more than glorified digital clocks.
If you think your TV might offer a break from the surveillance, think again. Which? found that smart TV menus are cluttered with ads and constantly gathering user data. Samsung’s TV app alone requested eight risky permissions, including the ability to monitor other apps on your phone. And of course, brands like Samsung and LG are eager to collect data, linking up with Facebook and Google trackers to harvest even more information about their users. It’s almost as if companies are more interested in turning TVs into marketing tools than simply providing entertainment.
Here’s how your Smart TV provides access to the Government Psychos and their Agencies to view into your room and listen through the mic in the Smart TV. 📺 https://t.co/mmVbSMtJEx pic.twitter.com/n4SJddcCMB
— “Sudden And Unexpected” (@toobaffled) October 17, 2024
These findings from Which? should serve as a wake-up call. As consumers, we’re told these devices are designed to make life more convenient, but there’s a big price to pay in terms of privacy. Companies are clearly focused on capturing as much data as they can with as little transparency as possible, all while consumers remain largely in the dark about what’s really going on behind the screen—or, in some cases, inside the kitchen appliance.
Many smart devices including TVs, speakers, air fryers and smartwatches are making “excessive” requests for access to user data, a new study from Which? has revealed.#news #london #technology #data pic.twitter.com/gDScXCv9nb
— London Live (@LondonLive) November 5, 2024
Sure, you can skim privacy policies, dive into settings, and try to rein in the data these devices collect, but the reality is that privacy in the age of smart tech is more elusive than ever. For companies eager to push “smart” everything, it’s clear that consumers’ data privacy isn’t nearly as high a priority as their bottom line.
