I had heard about the encroachment of IoT (Internet of Things) in the household but had yet to experience it myself. After writing my last post I turned on our "smart" TV to veg out for a minute. Upon turning on the TV I was hit with the above.
What do we collect?
Who do we share data with?
Now mind you we have had the TV for going on two years now. This makes the situation even more alarming to me, an update was pushed that lead to this prompt. The manufacturer must have decided to generate some more revenue from already sold merchandise.
Why is this such a big deal you ask?
Because the rules can change at any moment with or without your knowledge. Lets say this first roll out too many people opt out and they do not make their goal. I am sure they will push another update either to enable the data collection and not tell you. Or they have the option to change the wording to make it seem like you have said no when you have actually said yes. Too hard to believe you say, well check out my post on Microsoft regretting tricking their customers.
The above is the worry assuming that only the manufacturer can update your device. That is not the case, if they can get in, than anyone with the know how can also get in. With my TV this is not that big of deal because there is no camera or microphone that I am aware of. I have seen some schematics of cable boxes with microphones added. Oh, and how convenient that some TV's have voice command features. Let that sink in for a minute, yes those TV's can be listening in on your private conversations.
The device could also be compromised to use in an effort to gain access to the other devices on the network. If you typed passwords on the device for Netflix or Youtube it may be possible to capture that information to use in some way. I personally consider the actions of the manufacturer to be just as bad though.
I have a couple of raspberry pi's and I may take this TV offline. With the pi's I will have a little more control over the updates and I can almost guarantee there will be no personal data collection. Not going to do any P2P streaming with it though, I have heard a bunch of people bragging about using hacked fire sticks. If only they were aware of how many individuals they were giving their IP address to.
I wrote this post in hopes to bring awareness to the development of IoT and the possible breach on personal information it may cause. Everything is being put online, and I mean everything. This is not a preventable evolution but being aware will help when it comes time to enable or disable auto updates. Unfortunately my TV does not have the option to disable updates, taking it offline is my only option.
Let me know what you think in the comments or your personal experiences with IoT.
Thanks!
