Youngstown Daily Legal News

Privacy a concern as we connect with everything via technology

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: March 16, 2018

If refrigerators "showing" consumers their contents on a smartphone app to a human who is miles away in a supermarket aisle is insufficient to raise privacy concerns, surely a cloud-connected live mic in numerous rooms throughout the house is.

A study by the Security Innovation Center confirms that consumers are coming to that conclusion as I.O.T., or the internet of things, proliferates and a Columbus defense attorney says it's about time.

With nearly 30 percent of American consumers owning six or more products that connect to the internet daily - smartphones, computer tables, smart TVs, thermostats, home appliances, home assistant, security systems, etc. - and 60 percent expecting to buy more over the next five years, IoT has arrived, the study reported.

Nearly two-thirds of American consumers surveyed said that the explosive growth of internet-connected products makes them more concerned about their privacy and security.

In a recent episode of Columbus defense attorney Brad Koffel's "For the Defense," a broadcast radio show cached on the website of his namesake firm, the attorney said the most recent addition to the collection - the digital assistant - ought to give any consumer pause.

"It is a live microphone in your private space and, once that hardware is in place ... , you are now reducing your trust into the hands of two things: The software ... and (the hardware manufacturer's) policies to protect your privacy," Koffel said.

Like any electronic device linked to the outside world, a digital assistant is subject to hacking

Because Alexa and her Echoes, Google Home and Apple HomePod are omnipresent and always on (Google Home does allow for the mic to be mute), Koffel said consumers become used to them and they essentially become invisible.

But your language, your words, your voice are recorded and saved, he said.

And the consequences can be far greater than being embarrassed.

"In the event of a civil action, such as a divorce, the divorce lawyer can get your records from Amazon - what you've been looking for, your searches," Koffel asserted. "Now, Amazon and Apple will fight those subpoenas, but I'm not sure how far they're going to get because utility companies already turn over electric records when investigators are investigating marijuana grower operations."

A Fourth Amendment defense relies upon an illegal search and/or seizure being committed by the government, not a third-party, private company, he added.

"I don't think people realize how much information we're putting on third parties not realizing how easy it is to subject them to inspection in a civil action, like a divorce," Koffel said. "Our voices are being recorded and stored onto servers as search terms and you can inadvertently expose information that you thought nobody would ever know."

The study also found:

• 59 percent fear that one of their internet-connected products could be used by a hacker as part of a cyber attack;

• 79 percent hold themselves or a software/app provider most responsible if their devices are hacked;

• Nearly 50 percent have information on their internet-connected devices that would be harmful to friends, family or business associates;

• 73 percent believe they have a personal responsibility to keep data of friends, family members and business associates from hackers; and

• Only 35 percent would purchase a used internet-connected product with concerns about security and privacy as the number one reason for not buying a used internet-connected product.

"From smartphones in our hands to fire alarms in our homes to pacemakers in our bodies to sensors on roads and in cars, we are connected to each other like never before," Security Innovation Center Executive Director Josh Zecher said. "This interconnectivity will enable opportunities to solve society's most vexing problems.

"However, it also brings challenges that can only be overcome by ensuring that privacy and security are the foundational elements of all technology-related policies."

The interactive survey of 1,015 American consumers was conducted by Zogby Analytics from Jan. 23-25 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points, according to a press release of the study's finding.

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