In an ever-growing digital world, our houses, as well as our phones, keep getting smarter and smarter. More than 780 million people worldwide are expected to be part of this revolution by 2028. There's a catch, though; our privacy seems to be the price we pay for more convenience.
A new study conducted by Surfshark, one of the best VPN providers on the market, found that an average of 1 in 10 smart home apps uses your data for tracking. Unsurprisingly, Big Tech firms Amazon and Google top the list for the most data-hungry gadgets.
As Privacy Counsel at Surfshark, Goda Sukackaite explains, data collection isn't the only issue here. A home is the private space par excellence, where intimate aspects of our lives take place. “If mismanaged, [data collection] could lead to data theft, security breaches, and the unsanctioned, uncontrolled dissemination of personal information to third parties,” said Sukackaite. “Users must be made aware and given the means to reclaim their digital privacy.”
Privacy or convenience?
Surfshark's Smart Homes Privacy Checker investigates 290 applications connected to over 400 Internet of Things (IoT) smart home devices. The most popular entries from over 64 device types were selected, ranging from security cameras to robot vacuum cleaners. Researchers examined 32 potential data points across 12 categories for each smart home gadget, emphasizing user uniqueness, tracking, and linkage.
The widely used Amazon Alexa was the most data-hungry device, collecting 28 out of 32 possible data points. “That's more than 3 times more than the average smart home device,” noted researchers, adding that all the collected data, such as location, contact details, and health data, is linked and associated with a specific user profile.
Worse still, Amazon can use other data to trace the four uncollected data points. For instance, Alexa does not record browsing history, but does record search history. Likewise, while fitness data remains private, the same can't be said for the health data linked to it.
Google is Amazon's closest competitor, gathering 22 out of 32 potential data details while linking all collected data back to you. Surfshark reports address, precise location, photos, videos, audio data, browsing, and search history as the most notable collected data points.
“The extensive collection of such data can be concerning because it may compromise user privacy and potentially be exploited for targeted advertising, surveillance, or even malicious purposes if it falls into the wrong hands,” the provider explains.
