After Amazon launched its iRobot Roomba i6, consumers were left worried about privacy as Amazon would end up having access to information about the home like its layout.
However, Patrick Hearn from Digital Trends says it would not really affect privacy because people do not really have privacy anyway.
Hearn says privacy is “a thing of the past” because smart technology feeds on the loss of privacy.
Technology relies on trust meaning buyers have to trust Amazon or other companies before they use machines that use motion sensors, security cameras, and presence detectors.
Smart home technology, of course, has all the data about a home. Hearn said he trusted Amazon.
He explained that if the tech giant was to sell consumers’ data to someone else, “that would an idiotic business move.” Hearn said that they would use it only to advertise more products to the consumer.
He added that the use of ad blockers is a solution to these ads which means selling data for ads might not be that big of a deal.
The smart home writer said that privacy was not a problem also because of a person’s daily routine not really having anything that could be misused. Giving his own example, he said there was not much to know.
“If Alexa has a sneaky built-in subroutine to snap naked pictures of me, well, maybe they can send me a few,” he said sarcastically.
In an ideal world, he said, all of us would want that our private moments were not invaded. However, smart technology does not allow that but at the same time, it has become important to use.
“What if someone blackmails me over a naked picture?”
Quoting a study, Hearn said that hackers were not interested in private chats or nude pictures of a person unless any of those involved banking information.
So, the only thing a consumer can do is switch off the microphones when not using Alexa and buy cameras with lens covers.
