It has been a terrible week for Apple. Not only did the tech company report its first decline in revenues and profits in more than a decade, but it was embroiled in an embarrassing privacy scandal. A much-discussed bug in its FaceTime app meant that, in certain circumstances, you could turn someone’s iPhone into an all-seeing, all-hearing spying device. The glitch was a blow to Apple’s reputation for security, and a reminder that our smartphones are essentially surveillance tools. Even if your apps aren’t riddled with bugs or malware, your phone is probably transmitting more of your private information than you realise.
It’s not just your phone you should be wary of. We live in an age of surveillance; data-collecting devices are everywhere. Internet-connected video doorbells, for example, which alert your phone when someone is at the door, and send a live video feed of the visitor, have been rocketing in popularity. Ring, one of the best-known connected-doorbell companies, was bought by Amazon last year; the e-commerce company has filed a patent that would combine doorbell cameras with facial recognition technology, alerting homeowners and police to “suspicious” visitors. Considering the biases found in facial recognition, this sounds like it has the potential to be a racial profiling, and civil-liberties, nightmare.
Things don’t get much more private inside your home. There’s malware that can turn your headphones into a microphone, and your smart TV into a listening device. Your smart vibrator may have been tracking your sex life. If you have a fancy robot vacuum, there’s a chance it’s sharing detailed maps of the layout of your house with third parties. And if you have an internet-connected fridge then, well, you should think very carefully about your life choices.
