But wait! There’s More… Stocking-Stuffer Surveillance Pt. 2

Dear Friend,   Hopefully you saw our newsletter earlier this month, warning holiday shoppers to pass on the latest creepy tech gifts. But S.T.O.P.’s latest report, The Trojan House, exposes even more products that surveil us in the comfort of our own homes. With last-minute holiday sales aplenty, we wanted to share additional commercial-surveillance devices to avoid inviting into your home this holiday season. Smart Speakers & Voice Assistants: Did you know that Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant can share your data with government agencies and other private entities? Tech giants fielded thousands of requests for U.S. user information over the most recent half-year reporting period – with Apple and Google both granting over 80% of these requests. These devices also make it possible for hackers, in addition to law enforcement, to eavesdrop on your private conversations and routines. Smart Thermostats & Meters: These tools, which are often compatible with smart speakers, track your utility usage including when you heat and cool your home – mapping people’s daily routines with eerie accuracy. This data poses a serious risk to those targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE already uses utility records to identify the home address of undocumented people; smart meters now enable ICE to figure out when they are likely to be home. Smart Vacuums & Mops: Amazon Astro is not the only device mapping your home. Smart vacuums like the iRobot Roomba create and store comprehensive digital floorplans of houses they clean, detailed enough to know where furniture is. The device that sweeps your home can help make you the unwitting target of a digital police sweep. And Roombas have been known to take photos of people unwittingly, too, including when they're using the bathroom. Before inviting your friends and loved ones over for the holidays, toss these creepy surveillance tools out in the cold. Gift something other than a “smart” device this year – like a contribution to the fight against invasive discriminatory tech. Your support can help us put an end to surveillance stocking stuffers, as we advocate for long-overdue privacy protections – like Apple iCloud’s recent encryption updates. Your Apple Watch might not be spying on you anymore, but so many other products still can. Support our anti-surveillance work and receive a gift of your own when you make a first-time donation of at least $15. And to learn more about the dangers of in-home surveillance, check out The Trojan House and watch our inaugural Tech & Society Salon The Home Surveillance State.   Multiply Your S.T.O.P. Gift 5x! With gratitude, Sarah Roth Communications and Development AmeriCorps Fellow Share Tweet Forward Copyright © 2022 STOP, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.