How to Keep Your Internet Connected Device From Being Followed
Usually a fun holiday can sound something like this: you wake up on the morning of December 25, run to your tree, unfold everything in a frenzy, connect all your long-awaited gadgets, connect them to Wi-Fi and speed up. past the setup screens (or guides) to start having fun.
What is the problem? In your mad desire to try out all your brand new devices, you didn’t take the time to fully understand what they are doing. What data do they collect? What data are they sending somewhere else? Whatprivacy questions can you face months later?
If that sounds unlikely, think of the hundreds of thousands of homes deployed in 2016 with a teddy bear connected to CloudPets. Later, there was one poorly secured online database, with over two million messages left for the teddy animal, as well as 800,000 customer email addresses and passwords – stored in an unsecured database that anyone can play with.
Before you launch this Wi-Fi dinosaur or tiny robot , take this great holiday tip from The Guardian’s Alex Hearn :
“Some gifts cannot be recycled. Your tech-obsessed brother might have thought that Fisher Price’s teddy bear with a camera in its nose was cute for your newborn, but before the company corrected the violation, it allowed hackers to steal baby names, birthdates and gender, as well as other data. Better to take out the batteries and use it as a simple stuffed toy. “
I will go even further. When you buy a connected toy or gadget, think about what it collects from you, how it stores that information, and most importantly, the track record of a company that now has a copy of everything you’ve made with your new toy. …
You can’t predict data breaches – a startup can better protect your data than an established company, or vice versa. However, you can honestly assess the company’s capabilities: what is its data retention policy? How do I delete the data collected by the connected toy? Does the company store your data locally, on your toy, or in the cloud? How do I completely delete my account if you are tired of playing with what you bought? How do you protect your account? Can you make a strong password? Is two-factor authentication available?
Before you open a window on your personal life for a new company, you need to check it out. If you need a little help, Mozilla has a great privacy-focused database worth exploring, and you can read the US PIRG Education Fund’s 2018 ” Trouble in Toyland ” report to get some general insight.
When in doubt, remember the golden rule of data security: you can lie to your toys. Don’t call it your child’s real name or birthday. Don’t set it up with your regular email address. Use a unique password. ( Always use a unique password.) Choose a fake address. Do not give the toy a picture of you or your children.
But not every gift under your tree will be a knitted toy . You can get mainstream devices like smart speaker, new smartphone, smartwatch, smart something from established company like Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc. Just because you are familiar with the subject, or know a lot about the company, does not mean that you should let the device do whatever you want with you and your data. As Herne explains:
“So don’t accept the default settings the first time you turn on your smart humidifier. Take a second or five to examine the settings of your new devices and see how much control they give you. You will almost certainly be able to have tighter control over how your data is used (do you really want personalized ads?), And you can also find ways to improve the user experience. “
We’ve covered data privacy tips for all major platforms: Android , iOS , Windows, and macOS ; and the various major smart products and companies you interact with frequently, such as Google , Facebook , Apple, and even Reddit .
While it will always take you a little time to review all the privacy settings of a device or service, that time is well worth it. Set it aside because you are more interested in playing with your new gadget and will probably forget about everything you can (and should) do to block it. Preventing businesses from taking advantage of you is the best holiday gift you can give yourself, even if it’s not as fun as a pair of PhD socks .