Everyone's spying on you

Everyone's spying on you

How smart devices can spy on you—and what to do about it​

Have you ever felt a creeping sensation that someone’s watching you? Then you turn around and you don’t see anything out of the ordinary. Depending on where you were, though, you might not have been completely imagining it. There are billions of things sensing you every day. They are everywhere, hidden in plain sight—inside your TV, fridge, car, and office. These things know more about you than you might imagine, and many of them communicate that information over the internet.


Back in 2007, it would have been hard to imagine the revolution of useful apps and services that smartphones ushered in. But they came at a cost in terms of intrusiveness and loss of privacy. As computer scientists who study data management and privacy, we find that with internet connectivity extended to devices in homes, offices, and cities, privacy is in more danger than ever.

INTERNET OF THINGS​

Your appliances, car, and home are designed to make your life easier and automate tasks you perform daily: switch lights on and off when you enter and exit a room, remind you that your tomatoes are about to go bad, personalize the temperature of the house depending on the weather and preferences of each person in the household.
To do their magic, they need the internet to reach out for help and correlate data. Without internet access, your smart thermostat can collect data about you, but it doesn’t know what the weather forecast is, and it isn’t powerful enough to process all of the information to decide what to do.

But it’s not just the things in your home that are communicating over the internet. Workplaces, malls, and cities are also becoming smarter, and the smart devices in those places have similar requirements. In fact, the Internet of Things (IoT) is already widely used in transport and logistics, agriculture and farming, and industry automation. There were around 22 billion internet-connected devices in use around the world in 2018, and the number is projected to grow to over 50 billion by 2030.

WHAT THESE THINGS KNOW ABOUT YOU​

Smart devices collect a wide range of data about their users. Smart security cameras and smart assistants are, in the end, cameras and microphones in your home that collect video and audio information about your presence and activities. On the less obvious end of the spectrum, things like smart TVs use cameras and microphones to spy on users, smart lightbulbs track your sleep and heart rate, and smart vacuum cleaners recognize objects in your home and map every inch of it.
Sometimes, this surveillance is marketed as a feature. For example, some Wi-Fi routers can collect information about users’ whereabouts in the home and even coordinate with other smart devices to sense motion.

Manufacturers typically promise that only automated decision-making systems, and not humans, see your data. But this isn’t always the case. For example, Amazon workers listen to some conversations with Alexa, transcribe them, and annotate them, before feeding them into automated decision-making systems.
But even limiting access to personal data to automated decision-making systems can have unwanted consequences. Any private data that is shared over the internet could be vulnerable to hackers anywhere in the world, and few consumer internet-connected devices are very secure.

UNDERSTAND YOUR VULNERABILITIES​

With some devices, like smart speakers or cameras, users can occasionally turn them off for privacy. However, even when this is an option, disconnecting the devices from the internet can severely limit their usefulness. You also don’t have that option when you’re in workspaces, malls, or smart cities, so you could be vulnerable even if you don’t own smart devices.
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Therefore, as a user, it is important to make an informed decision by understanding the trade-offs between privacy and comfort when buying, installing, and using an internet-connected device. This is not always easy. Studies have shown that, for example, owners of smart home personal assistants have an incomplete understanding of what data the devices collect, where the data is stored, and who can access it.
Governments all over the world have introduced laws to protect privacy and give people more control over their data. Some examples are the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Thanks to this, for instance, you can submit a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) to the organization that collects your data from an internet-connected device. The organizations are required to respond to requests within those jurisdictions within a month explaining what data is collected, how it is used within the organization, and whether it is shared with any third parties.

LIMIT THE PRIVACY DAMAGE​

Regulations are an important step; however, their enforcement is likely to take a while to catch up with the ever-increasing population of internet-connected devices. In the meantime, there are things you can do to take advantage of some of the benefits of internet-connected without giving away an inordinate amount of personal data.

If you own a smart device, you can take steps to secure it and minimize risks to your privacy. The Federal Trade Commission offers suggestions on how to secure your internet-connected devices. Two key steps are updating the device’s firmware regularly and going through its settings and disabling any data collection that is not related to what you want the device to do. The Online Trust Alliance provides additional tips and a checklist for consumers to ensure safe and private use of consumer internet-connected devices.
If you are on the fence about purchasing an internet-connected device, find out what data it captures and what the manufacturer’s data management policies are from independent sources, such as Mozilla’s Privacy Not Included. By using this information, you can opt for a version of the smart device you want from a manufacturer that takes the privacy of its users seriously.
Last but not least, you can pause and reflect on whether you really need all your devices to be smart. For example, are you willing to give away information about yourself to be able to verbally command your coffee machine to make you a coffee?
 
Mcqueenen said:
You, Yes you. Hello there! My name is McQueen and I'm delighted here today to share a little secret with you.

And that is, the answer to the most fundamental question in which always in 'your everyday life' you try to ask yourself.
And that is "who am I really?" And "what is my purpose/role in all this?"

For instance, When you turn off the alarm and sleep a little more in the morning, you've just asked and answered to yourself that question. The question Of who are you really? Are you the type of guy that wakes up early or the guy that always oversleep. And so on and so forth the examples are infinite in every aspect of your daily life.

You see the You that you so dearly hang on to, doesn't exist. It is simply a facade, a play, a false character you are trying to play In this world.
For example There is no biological mark that differentiate you from let's say the president. But it is a character she well plays. And since so many believe her. She succeeds in her act.

But luckily for you, I've done a real scientific research on these questions. And here is my scientific stance. Buckle up!

You first of all, are just a conscious agent who was created/exists/came into being in this world (it doesn't matter) from an unknown cause/agent (it might be by God,the universe itself, aliens, Caucasians, Or even bacteria etc. Who's to say?)

And the sole purpose for creating you, is that they (The Gods, the Universe or whatever it is, aliens, Caucasians etc. Or whoever) Are conducting an experiment on you. On how your consciousness reacts to all or certain external stimuli.

Your friends are not really your friends, but rather special agents that collect data on certain aspects of your daily life, just try to monitor their questions. And So are your acquaintances, relatives , workmates, soulmates, even your pastors etcetera. They are really just conducting a thorough experiment on you.. studying your behavior.

Now they might be agents doing this work collecting data consciously or unconsciously. Hell, you might even be conducting your own experiment on the behaviors of other people you know. You do this unconsciously.

And so you see, everything you too do is carefully studied and adding data to a special research on you that has been going on for a few decades and maybe not just you, but also for every homo sapiens on this planet by whoever knows who for whoever knows how long.

I mean, We've seen experiments being conducted by caucasians on apes and chimpanzees out there in the jungles like Mahale/Gombe right?. We got Organizations like Jane Goodal, et al. Doing such experiments. what is it to stop them from conducting such experiments on us? Black Africans?

What about our governments through their intelligence agencies, what about our neighbors through their window peeps, what about our relatives and friends?

Shit is weird, I know. But try to consider it. That maybe, just maybe there's a teeny tiny probability that that is possible.

But of course you too are free to conduct your own experiment.

CAUTION:: You may do with this information whatever you like.
Click to expand...
Only thing you need to know about power is that, sometimes, well all the time, you need to do that, in order to still be on power.

Haijalishi unafanya kwa namna ipi ila what really matter is the purpose.

In order to run anything you need to know it from time to time, get updates..and everything else, you need to know each and everything.

It is pointles rulling without information, they will overthrow you from power.

That's why they say, information is power.

So, its essential to conduct studies on human, whether its being done by aliens, devils, God, government, health institutions, researchers, scientists, astronomers, psychological experts, etc and etc and etc...the list just keeps going on again and again and again..

So relax. Youve been watched, as long as youre not screwing things you, you will be fine
 
Man Jau said:
Only thing you need to know about power is that, sometimes, well all the time, you need to do that, in order to still be on power.

Haijalishi unafanya kwa namna ipi ila what really matter is the purpose.

In order to run anything you need to know it from time to time, get updates..and everything else, you need to know each and everything.

It is pointles rulling without information, they will overthrow you from power.

That's why they say, information is power.

So, its essential to conduct studies on human, whether its being done by aliens, devils, God, government, health institutions, researchers, scientists, astronomers, psychological experts, etc and etc and etc...the list just keeps going on again and again and again..

So relax. Youve been watched, as long as youre not screwing things you, you will be fine
Click to expand...
That's why they say, information is power.

So, its essential to conduct studies on human, whether its being done by aliens, devils, God, government, health institutions, researchers, scientists, astronomers, psychological experts, etc and etc and etc...the list just keeps going on again and again and again..
[emoji1666]
 
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