Our Devices are Listening to Us

In the long read titled Smart talking: are our devices threatening our privacy? informs us on ways companies use the information they obtain from our devices. In today's world, we have virtual assistants that we can depend on to do simple tasks we tell them to do. Toys can now listen to what a child has to say and respond depending on what the child's response was. The problem is that we don't know where the voice data may be transferred to and what it might be used for. The government may be listening to what you're saying and watching what you're doing without your consent.

 The chat logs that companies see may be anonymised so the reviewer doesn't see the names of the users. When we speak to a virtual assistant on a phone or another device, we only think that it's only a computer on the other end, but people on the other side taking notes and learning off of the voice data. Hackers could hack into your devices to hear all the requests you made in the privacy of your home. These plushies also known as CloudPets could have a message sent from the plush to a distant relative. These plushies were hacked in which the hackers demanded a ransom from the company. What are some actions we can take to prevent getting hacked? Is hacking going to happen more often because of the rapid production of new technology? 

-Ahliyah Curry