What your smart devices know (and share) about you | Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu

Once your smart devices can talk to you, who else are they talking to? Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu wanted to find out — so they outfitted Hill's apartment with 18 different internet-connected devices and built a special router to track how often they contacted their servers and see what they were reporting back. The results were surprising — and more than a little bit creepy. Learn more about what the data from your smart devices reveals about your sleep schedule, TV binges and even your tooth-brushing habits — and how tech companies could use it to target and profile you. (This talk contains mature language.)

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29 Comments on What your smart devices know (and share) about you | Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu

  1. A device like amazon echo is a dream come for true for any black hat.
    they don’t even have to bug the place, you bug it for them and it is there in your living room everyday all day.

  2. What is worst to me is that once the data’s out, you can’t take it back and it’s all recorded somewhere. And we all know how information can get misused..i value my privacy

  3. Appreciation to TED team for having translator in sign language for people with hearing disabilities. That struck me like a bolt.

    • The Terrible Puddle It is. A scientifical study has revealed that your microphone can even “listen” when your device is turned off

    • It is a common practice among certain people to remove the battery of their cellphones before engaging in a conversation. It was like that in the “dumb phone” era. But now you can’t even do that.
      I’ve heard of a high profile criminal who didn’t have a phone at all. He used his bodyuards’ phones.

    • The Terrible Puddle I keep my smart phone camera and laptop/computer cameras covered for that reason. I guess I should also cover the microphone as well.

  4. Amazon already tracks everything I do online, I don’t want them tracking everything I do in real life too!
    It’s gonna be an awesome news story the day a major politician has their Echo hacked.

  5. No, it is not to be expected. Our private information should never be expected to be sold and exploited. This should not be considered normal.

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