Technology That You Use Daily Might Be Spying On You

It’s obvious that most of us cannot live without our cell phones these days as we use it to do much more that make calls.  Our phones keep us connected through social media on the go, capture video and images of events we want to share, stores all our contacts that are important to us, gives us instant access to browse the internet, and provides real-time messaging to friends and family.  Those are just a few of the common uses, but there are so many more functions we use our phone for without thinking about it.

Another common use of our phones today is connecting it to our vehicles while driving.  This is a great feature as it allows us to stay connected hands-free while driving, stream music and videos on the go, and get GPS directions for road trips.

Vehicles have become smarter and more advanced, much like our cell phones, and have multiple capabilities to simplify our lives while traveling.  They are more intelligent to help protect us from accidents with new features like parking assistance, braking assistance, 360-degree cameras, Bluetooth, GPS, and so on.

Did you know that your vehicle infotainment and telematics system stores massive amounts of data about you?

It stores information such as; call logs, contact lists, SMS messages, emails, video, pictures, social media feeds, recent destinations, favorite locations, and the navigation history of everywhere the vehicle has been.

Several newer vehicles even record events like which doors are opened and closed at specific locations, when and where a vehicle’s lights are turned on, and even where the vehicle is when Bluetooth devices connect.

Our vehicle and cell phone together make our busy and fast paced lives better.  But that is just the beginning.

How many Smart devices do you use at home?

Other devices commonly used are Smart Appliances in our homes.  You may have a Smart TV, Smart Refrigerator or other appliance, Amazon Alexa or Google Home device, monitored security system and cameras, and even the thermostat and lights just to name a few.

These household items have also become more intelligent and are “connected” online or with your mobile phone, which provides another resource to collect data of your day-to-day activities.

A Smart refrigerator has been programmed to sense what kinds of products are being stored inside it and keeps track of the stock through barcode or RFID scanning. This kind of refrigerator is often equipped to determine whenever a food item needs to be replenished.  Some of these refrigerators can or will be able to order groceries online for you, suggest recipes based on the contents in your refrigerator, shows you who is at the front door with video, and much more.

Aside from productivity functions, like e-mail and word processing, smart TVs are much like a computer. It enables you to browse the web, watch YouTube, and catch up on social networking.  Some smart TVs even have cameras enabled with facial recognition technology and are recording images of users — all of which is mentioned in the paper manual that comes with a TV, a packet that most neglect to read.

Consider this… when combining all this technology together from your phone, your vehicle, and the smart devices in your house, everything you do is digitally stored and tracked.  For most people, this is not given a second thought as we rely on the technology every day.  But the question remains, how secure is your privacy?