For many, \u201conline shopping\u201d<\/b> is interchangeable with \u201cvisiting Amazon.\u201d The platform\u2019s wide selection, deep discounts, and seemingly-telepathic recommendation engine are largely unmatched. So it\u2019s little surprise that Amazon has its own pseudo-holiday: \u201cPrime Day,\u201d that secular, two-day span of deals on July 15 and 16.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m an Amazon user myself \u2014 recent purchases include a yoga mat, a refrigerator filter, and a children\u2019s book. But I\u2019m also a privacy advocate. And so I approach Prime Day with a certain wariness, and encourage others to do the same.<\/p>\n
Among Amazon\u2019s most popular products are connected devices \u2014 toys, watches, speakers, and other gadgets that communicate with the internet. Some of these products are made by Amazon, but most of them are made by third-parties who simply use Amazon as a storefront. Many of these products gather intimate information about us: what we say, where we go, what we search for. Some of the companies behind these products keep that data safe, but others are less scrupulous, and sell it or use it in ways we wouldn\u2019t expect.<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, privacy policies for many of these connected products are difficult to decipher or find, if they even exist at all. So there\u2019s no practical way to determine how exactly this baby monitor<\/a>, or this smart watch<\/a>, or this thermostat<\/a> is handling your data.<\/p>\n By now, most of us know that what was once the stuff of dystopian science fiction is very much reality: we need to worry about the corporate spy in our kitchen. In addition to getting the product we thought we were buying, we\u2019re taking on risks related to privacy and security. We\u2019re being profiled, tracked, and targeted based on the information we\u2019re giving up to get products that are subsidized by our data.<\/p>\n All of this comes just a few years after we started to understand that each time we log onto the internet we are involved in an information exchange that we may not have intended. Today, the war on our privacy extends to our devices. It may be the case that these devices collect and store data in a way that wouldn\u2019t surprise us \u2014 to improve services, to troubleshoot, or to provide a better experience for customers. But it\u2019s also possible that these devices are sharing customer data to organizations we wouldn\u2019t approve of \u2014\u00a0 advertisers, data brokers, or other third parties. Without access to a privacy policy, customers have no way of making an informed decision about the device they\u2019re buying.<\/p>\n Privacy policies aren\u2019t perfect \u2014 they\u2019re often rambling and illegible. But a complete lack of a privacy policy means consumers have no real window into what data is being collected about them and how it\u2019s being used.<\/p>\n Further, consumers\u00a0have no clear insight into whether or not the product is insecure. Does that baby monitor use encryption? Is the password that came with that thermostat unique, or universal to all<\/i> models? This isn\u2019t an abstract concern: these devices are also vulnerable to hackers. Take the Nest camera. In January, a Bay Area woman was told<\/a> nuclear weapons were on their way to Los Angeles, Chicago and Ohio. The source of the frightening rumor? Her Nest camera, which was taken over by a malevolent hacker.<\/p>\n So what to do<\/b> when browsing a digital storefront with potentially insecure products? Here are some tips:<\/p>\n When shopping, skip products that don\u2019t have privacy policies \u2014 that\u2019s a major red flag. Further, don\u2019t settle on a product just because it does<\/i> have a policy. Even if it exists, its privacy and security features could be terrible. Instead, ensure the product uses encryption; the company provides automatic security updates; the product requires strong passwords; and the company has a way to manage security vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n To make it easy to find privacy-minded products, Mozilla has put together our *Privacy Not Included<\/a> shopping guide. It doesn\u2019t cover every product, but it gives you an idea of what to look for when you\u2019re seeking your next gadget.<\/p>\n Also: Watch out for apps. Many connected devices rely on apps on your smartphone to control it. The apps often ask to use the phone\u2019s camera, microphone, or location tracking. Monitor that carefully, as some of the permissions the apps ask for might surprise you.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re done shopping, think about clearing your site data. The average person sees an average of 4,000 ads a day. Browsers like Firefox<\/a> make it easy to clear your browsing history which will limit the ability of advertisers to target you (and, Firefox blocks third party cookies by default as well).<\/p>\n W<\/b>hile we wait for laws to catch up with the largely unregulated connected landscapes that exist today, you can take action and join the growing chorus of users demanding that tech be better.<\/p>\n A big part of freedom is having autonomy and control over our lives. When our devices spy on us, part of that freedom is compromised. Don\u2019t let them get away with it \u2014 on Prime Day or any other day. No discount is worth it.<\/p>\n Related reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n Tell Amazon: Require privacy policies for internet-connected devices<\/a> For many, \u201conline shopping\u201d is interchangeable with \u201cvisiting Amazon.\u201d The platform\u2019s wide selection, deep discounts, and seemingly-telepathic recommendation engine are largely unmatched. So it\u2019s little surprise that Amazon has its own pseudo-holiday: \u201cPrime Day,\u201d that secular, two-day span of deals on July 15 and 16. I\u2019m an Amazon user myself \u2014 recent purchases include a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1198,"featured_media":22341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[464058],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\nBe Smart. Shop Safe.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"