Welcome back to Simply Tech, a column for people who might feel overwhelmed by the new technologies out there. Every other week, we’ll cover a new topic to help you make sense of a fast-changing technological world.
I noticed something funny about modern dishwashers: A lot of them include Wi-Fi and even come with smartphone apps. Why anyone would need a dishwasher app is beyond me, but it’s all part of a trend toward “smart” gadgets: appliances, thermostats, lights — not to mention voice assistants, fitness trackers and more.
These internet-connected devices don’t just talk to you. They also “phone home” to their makers and “business partners” to spill their guts: What shows you watch and when you watch them. When you turn off your lights. How you set your thermostat. How often you run the dishwasher. How you like your toast. (Yes, there are internet-connected toasters.)
It goes on: Your phone shares where you go and who you talk with. When you visit a website, a long list of companies know about it. Use a loyalty card at Price Chopper? Use a CPAP? Yeah, they’re all collecting and sharing info.
Case in point: I discovered that Sidney Federal Credit Union’s phone app sends data to Google, plus a company called Urban Airship that noted what device I was using, my email address, and even my GPS coordinates. Another SFCU “partner” is Apptentive, which wanted my birthday, phone provider, and even which chip was inside my phone.
Maybe sharing that info has an upside. Maybe SFCU is ensuring its app works on every phone. And maybe Price Chopper uses my shopping behavior to send me coupons. My TV viewing might get me better Netflix recommendations. But it’s not the individual pieces that are the issue. It’s when companies start putting them together that things get creepy.
A thousand points of light
Let’s say you have some smart appliances, you watch TV, and you use a few apps on your phone. From the information those provide, companies like Apptentive (which I had never heard of until I wrote this column) build a detailed profile.
Maybe they know you’re a 62-year-old man. They notice that a couple of months ago you started watching more crime dramas and westerns. You stay up later. You use your dishwasher less frequently, set your thermostat a little lower and cut back on grocery shopping.
These “customer experience platforms” might determine you’ve just been divorced or widowed. (Toss in credit card info and they’ll know for sure.) Heck, if you have a device like Amazon’s Alexa, they probably know a lot more.
That information shapes how you’re treated not just online, but across your life. You might start seeing ads for grief counseling, get a free trial of meal kits, or suddenly receive Golden Dating magazine. And it may not stop there.
What does being newly widowed do to your driving risk? You can bet your insurer knows. How about your credit worthiness? “Alternative credit scoring” might mean you’re denied a loan or offered a higher rate because your behavior matches a risk category. Are you alone now? Your health insurer knows that’s not good for you.
Then there’s politics. Your music taste, the websites you visit, the television you watch all says a lot — maybe that you’re the type to worry about your IRA, be particularly safety-conscious and emotionally responsive to nostalgia.
That’s gold to political advertisers — they want to know which of your buttons they can push. Result: You might see subtly different ads or content. And no, you won’t always know who’s behind it... or why.
Federal employees on Reddit say there’s no rhyme or reason why some people were part of recent mass firings and some weren’t. Considering how much information is available about each and every one of us, it’s no stretch to think that decisions may have been made using these kinds of in-depth profiles.
This isn’t paranoia. This is how data marketing works. So what can you do?
The best you can hope for is to limit what you share. Smart appliances? If you’re lucky there’s a setting for privacy. If you don’t need the smart functions, turn them off.
Smart TV? Go to the settings and turn off anything that says “viewing data” or “ACR” — that’s what tracks your watching habits. (Or search online for your brand of TV and “privacy.”)
You can do more on your computer and phone. The most powerful protection is to use a virtual private network (VPN) like ExpressVPN, NordVPN or others. For a few dollars a month they hide virtually everything you do online. If you don’t do that, at least use a privacy-focused web browser like Firefox or Brave. Search using DuckDuckGo instead of Google.
The reality is you can’t make yourself invisible without going full hermit. Still, you should at least know whose eyes are on you, what they might see and why it’s about much more than the movies you watch or websites you visit.
Kind of makes you want to pay cash, doesn’t it?
Got a comment? An idea for a subject we should cover in Simply Tech? Drop a note to andrew@delcoreporter.com
