Telstra had to apologise to its Australian customers in March this year after a long night without the internet. While this angered users, in years to come, people may wish their privacy was spared.
The director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said:“In the future, intelligence services might use the [internet of things] for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials.”
The potential for privacy violations has recently started reaching millions of homes. Last year, Samsung announced that a television that would listen to everything said in the room it’s in and in the fine print literally warned people not to talk about sensitive information in front of it. All-seeing or all-listening devices are available on other television models and on Xbox Kinect, Amazon Echo and GM’s OnStar program that tracks car owners’ driving patterns.
People’s personal and physical location and private messages, are best kept private. However, every time people enter their address on the internet, they leave themselves open for exploitation (if these services are hacked). One strategy is to configure devices to stop them giving away your information; ask services to stop sharing your data and try some of the services that stop scripts and trackers. A post-office box may be a safe idea so addresses are kept private. This may seem like a step back in time, but it may also bring peace of mind. It is vital to think of ways to keep the internet safe and this may mean using safe and reliable ways that we have relied on for a long time.
Leave a Reply