¶ Intro / Opening
And we're live back in our homes . Cameron Ivy , gabe Gums this is Privacy , please . How we doing , we're doing . Well , how we doing we doing chill , we're chilling , we're chilling is what the cool kids say .
We're chilling big time . It's like the low 50 degrees in this state . What's going on ?
It was 41 this morning 41 this morning . I forgot to turn on my heater last night . Oh , my Tootsies were cold . No one .
I mean , no one up north wants to hear about this . I'm not busy dealing with snow on the ground and Philly .
I could have worn socks though . I could have worn socks though . Yeah , I know , my toes were frozen and I was too cold to get out of my sheets .
I understand the struggle . My sweater game is
¶ Privacy Concerns With Consumer Electronics Innovations
tight . My sweater game is tight . You got to keep some sweaters around this time of year , it's true .
You got some good ones and some good cardigans .
You know where it's not cold Vegas . Vegas is where it's not cold , we're not in Vegas . Last week in Vegas was the Consumer Electronics Show . Yeah , good transition you like that segue when it actually is warm , which isn't here . The Consumer Electronics Show was wrapped up last week , on the 10th .
I mean I assume that most people in technology have either heard of it or at least tangentially seen it come up Like , even if you've never paid attention to it , because I've never paid any deep attention to it , largely because I don't work in Consumer Electronics , but there are a lot of folks that do work in Consumer Electronics .
Consumer Electronics are well , they're ripe for privacy problems and abuses . It's where we've seen most privacy challenges . Think everything from Fitbits that gave away too much information consumer product to your cell phone , your cell phone , a consumer digital product that gives away too much information . They're toasters that are now connected to Wi-Fi .
Why do you have a toaster that connects to Wi-Fi ? But last week I also saw there was some washing machines that were caught sending gigabytes of data across the internet . It's like why is your washing machine sending all this data ?
And the answer is because Consumer Electronics well , they haven't traditionally been built with privacy first in mind , and so last week there were a number of technologies on display and there is a panel of judges . This group includes Consumer Reports and the EFF .
So the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Consumer Reports , those are both names that certainly Consumer Electronics Reports is a household name , but for our audience , I assume , the Electronic Frontier Foundation is a household name too .
So they put out this list every year of worst in show , based on a number of things like products that are just bad , like bad for us as humans . Products are just bad because they're not very durable , they don't freaking last , they're cheap , crappy Consumer Electronics and products that violate the hell out of our privacy or our autonomy right .
You're right to repair and things of that nature . So there were several that made that list this year .
I'm looking at it and it's fascinating . Can we just talk about Instacart's AI-powered shopping cart where it's pushing junk food based on customers' historic shopping behavior ?
That not only sounds like a bit of a privacy violation , but like what if you struggle with food addictions ? Right , this sounds problematic .
Yeah , all of America struggles with that .
I don't need you shoving junk on me , just walking around talking about first bag of chips for retail , you friends .
I mean , let's not even go into the fact that most food labels are so Deceptive at best Deceptive- you .
It's scary . At worst they are outright well , not existent in some things . Like it still grinds my gears . At most wines , almost all of them , for example , you can get a list of ingredients . And why might that matter ? Well , I mean , a lot of wines are still made with animal products and that matters to some people .
Yeah right , like course , food labels at best are deceptive , at worst they're not .
They're outright non-existent , and somewhere in the middle is just a lot of fuck yeah , there's a combo robot vacuum that is identified as a cybersecurity concerned due to its potential for intrusive home surveillance , including cameras , microphones , lidar voice recognition and computer vision why do you need a robot to sell that ?
so so lazy yeah , but does it need eyes though ? I mean , does it really ? Because , like some of the original vacuum robots , one of the privacy concerns there and security concerns do was like it .
It maps out your home footprint because it it needs to know , it bumps into things and it basically knows the layout of your home , which , for folks like Amazon , that data tells them a lot of things . Well , for anyone , right , like square footage of your home tells a lot about you . Right , might tell you how many bedrooms .
Right , like how many kids you might have , how many people live in that home . Tells you a lot about wealth . Tells you a lot about , right , like you know that this person has a home that , based on the zip code and the size of the zone , like we know what's worth flying .
There is a lot of information you can get from a robot simply mapping out the square footage of your home , much less having a damn microphone and a camera attached to it , like I . I'm okay without this . I still know how to mop sweet . I haven't lost in it gave .
This is the exact example of when we're talking about privacy and innovation , and where it's almost impossible to have privacy when innovation cares more about . He's making it easier for people to become lazier , not being able to think . I feel bad for the next generation and the one right now .
I could argue that society becoming laser has a net positive of us working less , which could be good for which could be great right like for everyone like it could allow for more creative endeavors as an entire society , which might lift us up in other ways . Yeah , like more time everyone to think about the things that are broken .
It , however , is in direct opposition to infinite growth which the form of capitalism that this country and most of the planet you know conducts is like it . It requires production . I don't want to say I sound like Karl Marx out here . I like this . That's not what this show is about . So , again , no usual folks who are you not gonna at me ?
Don't at me , alright , yeah , cuz he won't respond , I will not respond . But that being said , yeah , like making people laser is good , but they're not really trying to make us laser , I think they're . They're just trying to extract dollars and and and violate our privacy . I really don't need you know . We phrase that .
No one needs a robot nobody does and nobody needs .
And well , this is okay . Going to the BMW partnership with Amazon's Alexa , it emphasizes that it you should allow people to turn off tracking features inside their own car . It shouldn't be something you can't disable or enable . It should give . It should be just like our privacy rights . We should be able to choose .
That shouldn't be an automatic thing without any way of turning it off . That's problematic because there's tons of bad people out there that can track you . They can track you off of that feature . Criminals could use that to rob you or break into your car . Know where it is .
There's just a lot of red flags there , too many that again , from a privacy perspective , the trade-off question always has to be asked Is the convenience that , having a robot that intelligent is that convenience really worth ? Oops , there it is , folks , now I will not take it . Is that convenience really worth it ?
Yeah , is it worth it ? That's the question . Is your privacy worth the convenience ?
I think the answer is not for that kind of convenience .
I don't think so .
Not at all .
What do y'all think , and by y'all I mean you listening .
What else is on the list ?
Let's see we got . You talked about the microwave for a little bit , but that's pretty fascinating too . We were talking about the washing machine ?
What's the microwave ?
Oh no , you did wash it Okay . So microwave it's $1800 . And it's criticized for combining a microwave with a convention oven , leading to increased environmental impact . You had another bad consumer product .
So , again , what these brick bats , as the awards , are known for , is not just things that violate our privacy , but things that are just bad , like just bad technology , which privacy violated technology is usually . But this sounds ridiculous too . I got it . I mean , it sounds like a decent idea . It's like , yeah , I want just the one device .
But , like you said , none of these companies had privacy in mind whatsoever .
No nobody does , or your safety in that company's case which ?
Or safety . That one doesn't sound very good . And it sounds extremely expensive for something . Just get yourself a $40 air fryer . All right , you'll think later yeah , make it healthier for when you're making potatoes or anything you want to air fry . Yeah , exactly . Oh , now I'm getting hungry .
Anyways , to end conclusion with this whole episode technology , the implications of technology beyond the immediate functionality , or whatever . I think there's an emphasis on needing more responsibility and sustainable innovation and having privacy in mind as well when making the products . Yeah , so interesting topic , but I'll share these in more detail in the show notes .
Hello everyone . Gabe , you got anything else on this ?
No , I don't really have anything else other than privacy is not just an enterprise-wide problem . It's not just a B2B problem , it's very much anything . It's arguably more of a B2C problem . Consumer electronics are not a thing we talk about heavily on this show , but every single one that tunes into this show is certainly consumer of consumer electronics .
Obviously it is something to be remembered that it's just not something that gets enough pressure , I think , from regulation or even buyers . That's really where it needs to happen is with the wallet . We need to collectively tell these organizations we are not interested in washing machines that know the color of your underwear . I can see that feature automatically .
You don't have to worry about sorting your colors from your darks anymore .
I mean , sooner or later it's going to be interesting because obviously we've talked about people having relationships with robots and AI . I could see lonely people having relationships with a washing machine , where they talk to it , have conversations with it . Oh , Jerry , looks like you've got three red pairs of underwear now Where'd you get these ?
There's a couple holes in this one . You need to replace it .
Yeah , that's right . There's a hole in all of it . You automatically get some ads from AWS to buy some new on these .
You will . Yeah , there's a lot of underwear companies . I'd be glad to have your data to be able to promote that .
I can see it .
Yeah , that's all Very cool . I think that's pretty much it for this one .
It's a wrap , folks . We'll catch you guys next week . Until then , please disconnect your toasters from the interwebs
¶ Red Underwear and AWS Ads
and carry on .
Please do that . If you haven't seen the adventures of my little toaster , or whatever it's called , go check it out . I'm a bit of goody . This episode is brought to you by Old Disney Movies and we're out .
Stupid , that's funny .
Sorry about my little toaster , or something like that .
I have a toaster . I don't like it now . Sorry about that .