How can we tell which electronics are spying on us?

[sofasurfer]

Not sure where to post this but I know that the people on here are the best to ask this question.

With all the new tech and products that contain cameras and microphones, such as Samsung tvs, I am wonering if there are consumer protection groups or ordinary people who are exploring the innards of these gadgets to see if they contain cameras, tvs or other spy devices. It is known that Samsung operators agreement tells consumers to not conduct personal conversation or activities in front of their TVs. It is said that some cable boxes have microphones and with the coming of the ability of ALL appliances to comunicate with each other and then upload data to smart meters and corporations, I wonder who is monitoring these spies. How can we buy products and be sure our privacy is secure?

[grahammechanical]

You cannot. Get used to it.

There have been cases of baby monitors being accessed through the WiFi connection between the unit in the baby's room and the unit in the location where the parents are. If there is two way communication between the two units and if there is video as well, then the hacker has been able to view the baby and talk to the baby.

Commercial profit is driving development. I do not think that much thought is given to privacy or security. Oh, by the way, this is a user forum. What makes you think that any of us know more about this than you do? We are just Ubuntu users. This is not a forum for privacy activists. We are not privacy activists.

Regards.

[sammiev]

After reading this, I unplugged my toaster! :confused:

[sandyd]

Moved to Cafe

[lisati]

The TVs I'm aware of that have the potential to send details of your conversations to other people have an option to turn off the speech recognition feature, thus reducing the risk of the "wrong" people hearing stuff that would otherwise be private.

[robsoles]

You cannot. Get used to it.

There have been cases of baby monitors being accessed through the WiFi connection between the unit in the baby's room and the unit in the location where the parents are. If there is two way communication between the two units and if there is video as well, then the hacker has been able to view the baby and talk to the baby.

Commercial profit is driving development. I do not think that much thought is given to privacy or security. Oh, by the way, this is a user forum. What makes you think that any of us know more about this than you do? We are just Ubuntu users. This is not a forum for privacy activists. We are not privacy activists.

Regards.

+1 (although I am a programmer working for an electronics company so not quite 'just an Ubuntu user' but basically; if you did not make it yourself and it has much means to be used against you it then someone will probably try and in trying probably succeed - even if you do make it yourself, one little mistake and enough connectivity etc and it can be their tool in no time too).

[mastablasta]

even electricity supply meter is reporting when you are at home and when you are not.

[buzzingrobot]

Some devices apparently allow the user to turn off voice activation, including some Samsung products, I believe. Of course, then you can't use the voice activation feature, so you can't say, "OK Google..." or "Hey, Siri...". The things have to be listening all the time for it to work.

General Rule of Thumb: If a device is on a network, any of the device's communication over that network is visible on the network. Would not be a network if it wasn't.

Remember, there is a big difference between a company collecting data about the behavior of its products on the net versus a company deliberately targeting *you*. As I see it, only the latter is spying. (For example, I'm sure Canonical analyzes data in its web server logs left by people visiting this site. My tiny bits of data -- IP address, browser, OS, etc. -- are there for this visit. That's not spying. Mapping my name to my IP address and deliberately collecting and sifting through data to track my activities -- targeting me -- is spying.)

[CantankRus]

After reading this, I unplugged my toaster! :confused:
Good work.
Be cylon safe!!
260907

[Habitual]

How can we buy products and be sure our privacy is secure?
Don't buy the products that have them integrated. Privacy is a myth.


even electricity supply meter is reporting when you are at home and when you are not.

Good point.
OnStar, LoJack, hell even some digitized heart devices have geo-ip.
Smart thermostats know when you're home and when you are not.

There aren't enough tin foil hats to cover this one.

Love the toast! #Bazinga

[user1397]

Do what I do and minimize the amount of devices in your life so you have even less to worry about (and I'm not just talking privacy here). I do own a smartphone and a laptop, but that's it! No more TV, cable box, tablet, desktop, etc

Minimalism is wonderful :P

[linuxyogi]

I haven't purchased a smart TV yet but I sometimes worry if someone can remotely turn on the cameras and microphone of my Asus tablet.
It runs android.

[robsoles]

I have an allegedly 'smart' 3D TV and I haven't been able to detect a camera or microphone in it so I let it connect to my LAN - the manufacturer of the TV and their allies (and some hackers) may know my viewing preferences but I do not currently think the TV can reveal more than that; at least we should be able to rely on the sincere majority of manufacturers not being foolish enough to put microphones or cameras in equipment without informing consumers because they realise the backlash for hiding such things in their equipment will be pretty savage.

Anybody with a proper public company supplying software on any scale (scale: From Operating System through to software akin to notepad) *should* be unwilling to be spying more than their TOS/EULA/Privacy Policy/Feel-like-I-missed-something reveals because it is fairly serious trouble for them when they are sprung - AND they WILL be sprung :D


Unfortunately there are some pretty alarming cases of companies both unwittingly (at least they claim, not looking at any SEG in particular or anything) and quite purposefully spying quite outrageously on their customers - my favorite purposeful one was a hire (or hire-purchase) company somewhere in America installing seriously naughty software on laptops, I don't think their company survived being sprung turning on cameras and perving but I may be wrong.

[tgalati4]

Interesting story of Target (department store) sending baby coupons to a 16-year-old girl. Her father opened the junk mail and took the coupons to the store manager and complained that his daughter was not pregnant and why were they sending her coupons. Well, he learned a few things. 1. His daughter was pregnant. 2. Her recent Target purchasing gave her an 80% chance of being pregnant, and 3. She had not had "The Talk" with her father.

It would be interesting if the baby's first words were: "I want Cherrios!" How much would Kellogs pay to whisper into a baby's ear through a baby monitor?

There is a reason the store is called "Target".

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

router logging should be able to find out, but that will not help with that FBI Surveillance van outside your door

@linuxyogi (http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=996859) i dont see what the big deal with smart TVs is, if i wanted a computer attached to my TV* i would get a regular TV and a raspberry pi 2 model b

*i use my tv as a monitor but that is not the point

[ian-weisser]

Please do buy a lot of foil hats. I own stock in an Aluminum company, and their price has been down a bit lately.

You can also spout a lot of nonsense around your home to mess with listeners. "OK Google, good thing we hid the drugs in the sewer manhole outside the house" "Siri, can I make a dirty bomb out of diapers and lasagna?" "$DEITY told me to stun all the arthropods in the local water treatment plant using e-waste."

Or just quote a lot from The Simpsons...the source of many great conspiracy theories (Major League Baseball! Why they keep pennies in curculation! The real number for 911!)

If large companies really are spying on you, this should quickly result in a contract for your own Neflix series.
If governments are spying on you, expect a new co-worker to show up who is both disgruntled and fascinated by arthropods. Promptly report them to law enforcement.

[robsoles]

haha, your game relies on 'them' thinking it worth their efforts to actually 'listen' to you in the first place but may result in having your door kicked in at <insert-ungodly-hour>am and a bunch of angry seeming people milling about your house barking instructions and taking turns pointing their guns at you.

If you are not doing anything 'wrong' then the only people you have to worry about are criminals (you've agreed to all the TOS/EULA/ETCs now, right?) and they should be on the losing side in the long run so hopefully they don't manage that much against you in the meantime.

On the other hand, if you are doing 'wrong stuff' (and it is serious enough, 'impacts others negatively' is the measure for me) then it would be pretty cool if you'd just go and hand yourself in with appropriate authorities, thanks :)

[sammiev]

Well I guess it's cheaper to buy a new TV than an alarm system for your house as your TV can record break-in, floods, fire and they can call 911 for us.