It seems a long time since the Ontario government worried about whether traffic cameras on the 401 might catch a man travelling with a woman who wasn’t his wife. That got laughed out of court pretty quickly. The roads are public places and people have to take their chances. Now we have to worry about TV fixtures (Vizio Electronics for one) collecting data on what we watch and peddling it to people who will then carefully and secretly shape our viewing for us. It is the latest twist on the enormous invasion of privacy threatened by the so-called Internet of things. The Federal Trade Commission in the US has just fined Vizio $2.2 million for personal data theft. Modern web-connected TV sets can be disconnected from the Internet. Consumerist has a post on that. But the scope of the attack on privacy in the home is breathtaking. Everything from wearable fitness trackers to “smart” washing machines have that capability. Not to make you nervous or anything.
