Privacy issues impede the development of smart homes

The future of the Internet, the Internet of things, cloud networks and other multi-network joint smart home will certainly change our traditional way of life, and life of the Internet equipment will also greatly enhance the safety of the family, bring convenience to our lives.

The Nest interior thermostat is the best example of a smart home where the user can adjust the temperature of the entire house by simply touching the phone with a mobile phone. Every year, CES Consumer Electronic Warfare can see a variety of new home and applications, make us feel away from the legendary "Internet of Things" closer. As large as Internet providers, small businesses, are trying to make our lives, families more efficient.

Such a wonderful life, but it brought a very big problem: privacy.

Do not think family privacy will not be exposed, in fact, has begun:

The government collects more and more personal data

Over the past few years, Internet service providers ISPs and mobile operators have received an increasing number of private data requests from government agencies. In the United States, for example, AT & T operators receive a daily request for 700 private data requests from the government. Coincidentally, the U.S. government requires at least thousands of private data calls from mobile operators and ISPs every day. In China, a small police station can ask mobile operators for private data. However, in most cases, these companies are willing to provide these data to the government. However, it should be noted that almost all enterprises will not tell the user information is leaked.

The government's growing collection of personal data is also linked to the proliferation of smartphones and other connected devices. In their view, the more these establishments, the more they will use them to sin.

Rebecca Jeschke, head of media relations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said: "Private information in smart homes is very detailed." By analyzing the electricity usage of a home, you know the family's habits and even know what kind of appliances are used in your home. He also said, "I believe it soon, people will be able to see from the meter when a family opened the refrigerator, how much food and other information.This is only disclosed in the private power of information only."

The more information, the more exposure

Whenever a device in a smart home is networked, data is stored on the server once. These data are very useful for users, but if the future encounter legal disputes or hacking, the only remaining disadvantage to the user.

In addition to providing broadcast television signals, the Comcast Company in the United States also provides the latest smart home packages that can be used to dress up the latest automated home devices such as smart energy management, remote door locks and interior monitoring. All of the features are available on smartphones, tablets and webpages.

Remote control has brought not only a small convenience, but also to the privacy issues a red light. In a recent paper, Abdullahi Arabo, a researcher at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, focused on the privacy issues of smart home technology.

"In reality, smart devices store more information than we have in our brains, so smart devices can easily become targets for hackers, Trojans, and unauthorized users," said Arabo.

Of course, security has a long history, but in the smart home era hackers cracked mobile phones or thieves to steal mobile phones will greatly increase the impact, because the smart phone has become the user's entire family control terminal. If the user also installed indoor monitoring, then once cracked, family privacy gone.

Indoor monitoring brings unfairness

Just talked about from the perspective of hackers privacy control caused by indoor surveillance, from the official point of view, if the police want to see if a family is doing illegal crimes, just apply to the operator can be transferred to the family Indoor monitoring of real-time images. Is this the government's right? It's not fair.

Although the privacy issues in the digital age are significant, Comcast speechlessly confronts privacy concerns. But part of the privacy policy section of Comcast's contract states clearly: "We may provide privacy information like the courts or the judiciary, if we can, as required."

Apart from this, it is also unfair that parents monitor young people throughout the day so that they do not have free privacy.

Discharge vent, users simply do not know

Comcast scored only 1 star in the privacy rating of the E-Front Foundation, and Verizon, which also offers smart home solutions, scores less than Comcast. To know that the government requests thousands of times a day to retrieve the data, and the request for the transfer is not made public. Who knows if they are on the list?

Therefore, Jeschke said: "Before users choose such services, it's a good idea to ask who else can get the data they get, and who can get it if I can get a data report?"

It seems too early to worry about it? Early smart home users have been suffering from the harassment of home surveillance, such incidents will only be more and more.

"As privacy issues continue to grow, smart homes can only bring bad results."