People should be outraged and laser focused on the latest wikileaks report. Sadly many people are too busy with superficial and silly identity issues and morality crusades to care about the real threat. Conversely it boggles the mind some people were surprised and thought it was all conspiracy nut chit before this.
On a lighter note here is how to tell you are vulnerable.
When the so-called Internet of Things comes about, it will be possible. Right now, unless you are an early adopter, I wouldn't worry. That said, those laws they pass which they claim are about stopping terrorists should frighten you.
My toaster is almost 45 years old, my TV is almost 40 years old, I don't have a dishwasher and I have a 10+ year old flip phone. The only thing that connects me to the internet is my laptop.
This post was edited by SpunkySenior at April 23, 2017 6:10 PM MDT
Unless they are interested in watching me play games and chatting with people, I don't think there is much danger of them watching me. I don't have any smart appliances anyway.
It seems this scare arose from one make of TV (Samsung?) that has Skype or something similar installed, but I would have thought its own camera and microphone are only "On" by users' choice; not permanently and compulsorily like the "Telescreens" in George Orwell's 1984.
The accusation of spying via kitchen appliances makes no logical sense.
Firstly, the most anyone could do is assess what appliance you are using at a given time. There IS a real fear in the UK, not of appliances but of the utility meters, thanks to a Governmental drive to have all homes fitted with so-called "smart", radio-telemetric electricity and gas meters. This implies a potential means to monitor individual homes by pattern and rate of use of each; but it would show only how much gas or electricity is being used at the time in that house. The security concern then is not of eavesdropping on private individuals' presence and conversations, but on the building's continuing power consumption; and not by GCHQ or other official bodies, but by potential burglars assessing the opposite, the home being shown empty by the low power draw.
Secondly, are you really so important or nefarious the CIA - or if not American your own country's equivalent - is at all interested in your domestic activities? I know damn well I am not!
If you really are so naïve as to assume the authorities had the time, or even the wish, to spy on you via the toaster or whatever, then don't use appliances connected to the Internet! It's as simple as that!
WARNING: DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH ALOUD! There have been concerns about devices such as the Amazon echo, which activate when a keyword is spoken, coming on when the keyword, (usually Alexa) is spoken within range of the device unintentionally. There was a case in the USA when a TV programme was discussing the product, and the sound of the word being spoken on TV activated devices throughout the nation. As the device broadcasts what it picks up back to Amazon, it can result in an accidental privacy breach.
This post was edited by HarryDemon at April 23, 2017 7:12 PM MDT
Thank you for that Harry. Surely though, all it's doing is telling Amazon what equipment was switched on and when - the most that does really, is tell the system that someone was at home!
The precaution against this supposed eavesdropping is dead simple: don't use household appliances connected to the internet (apart obviously from the computer!), and switch things OFF fully when not using them.
Really, I don't believe this scare. It's just bonkers. Why the Hell would the CIA (or any other country's legal authorities) want to know you're making toast?
There was the murder case in the USA in which the police sought access to Alexa's data as evidence. https://www.wired.com/2017/02/murder-case-tests-alexas-devotion-privacy/
HarryDemon 