RE: Privacy and security: Spotlight: Securing the ‘Internet of Things’

I had a piano keyboard connected to get software updates, send tracks to friends & remote work projects, etc.

It connected to my LAN and was behind a secured router but I couldn't help but get a bit paranoid thinking someone was stealing my tunes.

I sold the keyboard shortly thereafter.

I often wonder why connect certain things to the Net. Are people doing it just because they can?

There does need to be security for such devices, and the makers have yet to agree a standard which is resilient.

The "Decentralization: Spotlight: Too big tech" is very relevant right now, with Facebook in the news, and, of course, the rise of the major corporations, such as google, Amazon, etc.

I got a Google Home device (after I sold the above mentioned piano.) I connect lots of electrical devices, a couple IoTs, via smart outlets and this is a secure way to control them all.

At some point I foresee governments and internet tech companies go through anti-trust battles.

Too early for AI report cards.

Currently I see no resolution to the fake news issue as long as opinions are equal to facts.

I have a simple question - Why does everything need to be connected? Sometimes it is enough just to keep up with people who hack my clients websites. Why would anyone want to connect parts of their home to something that is obviously not secure? Seriously, do you really need to have your refrigerator order groceries or Alexa read bedtime stories to your kids. Have we become that lazy?

And in regards to privacy, people seem to forget that their information has never been private even in analog format. Ever subscribe to a magazine, register to vote, or get a drivers license? Where do people think the companies that send you junk snail mail, credit card offers, political flyers, and so on, get your information from. No, our lives have never been private. It is just now these same companies can get the information faster.

I always thoughts it was just pure coincidence that everytime my wife and I would talk about a product (Car, Frig., Heck even sport protective gear) an ad would show up on her Facebook or Instagram. Now I'm not so sure.

We have Google Home and I swear we talk about a product and it shows up in one of those feeds. Even though we haven't searched for it or used any device to seek it out.

Yesterday my son was diagnose with severe elbow tendinitis. Today I see nothing but elbow brace ads and Icy Hot ads i my feeds...

Have we become that lazy?

If that's the case, the answer is absolutely, yes. Kids need attention from their parents, not a box in the corner of the room, imho.

We have Google Home and I swear we talk about a product and it shows up in one of those feeds. Even though we haven't searched for it or used any device to seek it out.

And that really is just as annoying as it is spooky if it is connecting those dots. I'd go and have a look at your privacy settings
[privacy.google.com...]
Take a look there and change your options.

We have Google Home and I swear we talk about a product and it shows up in one of those feeds

I've had Google Home active in my music studio for well over a year. Lots of clients, lots of conversations and I have never seen that happen.

I have a simple question - Why does everything need to be connected?

Quite correct.

The sad thing is that our society is verging on the reality put forward by the novel 1984, George Orwell. The one thing that George Orwell didn't predict about that situation was that the general public would offer themselves up, and everything they do, like sacrificial lambs to the state, or in our case Google, Amazon, Facebook etc.

I buy stuff on the internet and do many other things on the internet, but when I'm finished I close it down. Having listening devices in your house provided by Amazon or Google is madness. Utterly mad, given their past performance as far as privacy is concerned.

As Marshall mentions, it's pure laziness. And the cost of that laziness will be our freedom and if not ours, it will be the freedom of our children.

"Those seen dancing were thought insane by those who could not hear the music." - Nietzsche

"We have Google Home and I swear we talk about a product and it shows up in one of those feeds"

We've had our android phones show ads (via Adsense) simply after just talking about certain products. Not coincidence - this has been proven time and again, even by speaking keywords into the phone when it is suppose to be "asleep". Those microphones are always on whether we think so or not.

We've had our android phones show ads (via Adsense) simply after just talking about certain products

If you have any tinfoil left over from making your hat, you could try wrapping it around your phone (joking of course.)

Those microphones are always on whether we think so or not.

2001: A Space Odyssey - Hal Reads Lips (1968) HD
trt 2:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s-PiIbzbhw [youtube.com]

See also Baader-Meinhof phenomenon [rationalwiki.org]

We have Google Home and I swear we talk about a product and it shows up in one of those feeds

I've had Google Home active in my music studio for well over a year. Lots of clients, lots of conversations and I have never seen that happen.

I don't have Google Home at all, but I've noticed some strange ads pop up after conversations too, without performing any searches: plumber's ads and health-related things coming up after conversations.
Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? Maybe.