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| How to prevent you from being spied at home through the TV, speakers or webcam |
The
arrival in our lives of the virtual assistants has turned many of the
devices that surround us in habitual suspects of espionage. Not in vain,
they collect personal information at all times and remain constantly
listening to the waiting to receive that order that makes them start up.
However,
not only are virtual butlers integrated into modern loudspeakers or
mobile phones threatening the privacy of users. With the internet of
things, multitude of sensors surround us in the day to day arranged on
devices ranging from the TV to the refrigerator. That not to mention the
classics, like the dangerous ' webcam ' of laptops or their microphone.
For
all those who are jealous of their intimacy and who prefer to walk with
some prudence when enjoying the supposed advantages of these and other
intelligent devices, it is still possible to prevent households from
becoming a branch of the dreaded Big Brother.
What you sign
They
can be long and written in a jargon that is hard to understand, but
delve a little into the terms and conditions of certain services can be
of vital importance when figuring out what personal data they collect
and what they use them for. Without going any further, Google clarifies
in the frequent doubts of your home that the device hears a number of
seconds indeterminate in search of the popular "OK, Google" and saves
them on the device itself.
However,
in order to avoid the immense effort involved in reading the legal
texts, it is advisable to use platforms such as terms of service; Didn't
read. This initiative offers an extension for browsers capable of
classifying the texts of terms and conditions of a myriad of services
from Class A to Class E, depending on how abusive they result.
In
addition, it summarizes the most controversial points and adds to each
Web a label following the chromatic range of the traffic lights to warn
of a visual form of the dangers of each service. Thus, any user who does
not feel comfortable with any of the points of the contract he or she
will sign may decide not to do so. I'm sure it's possible to live
without that smart fridge that makes us buy.
Eliminates tracks
In
case you have already accepted, some of those services and devices that
do spy times can be configured to stop playing James Bond or, at least,
remove from your privileged memory the data you have stored on our
lives.
Is
what happens in the case of any device in the family of Google. Whether
it's a ' smartphone ' Android, a Chromecast or even a Google home, much
of the information that collects the device appears on the page of your
activity. While this site is a kind of gallery of horrors that shows
what you do with your mobile, what applications you use with your
Chromecast and even what your voice is, from it it is also possible to
delete all that data (which Google ensures that only you can see, but
they also keep) and, also, you can ask to stop registering some.
So,
Google can stop storing your youtube searches or, more importantly,
your voice, something the company keeps in order to improve its
recognition system. If you prefer the Mountain view not to have
something so personal, disable here. The same applies to echo of Amazon:
The user profile gives access to the deletion of all the data that the
wizard has stored. In addition, the physical device has a button with
which it is possible to disable the constant listening of the device,
always in search of a command that commands some action.
With
other devices, such as the computer, plugging the camera or the
microphone can prevent the company owning some ' software ' (or some
cybercriminal) from leaking into the very room where we sleep. However,
the most reliable method to prevent a technological device from sending
private information to a company is to deprive you of the Internet
connection. Although in most cases this is not possible (or is,) (as
little, absurd), in some situations it is useful: if you have a smart TV
and a Chromecast or an Apple TV, disconnect the TV from the WiFi
network and access the Internet from one of your accessories.
A secure network
Another
way to protect as much as possible our privacy while enjoying the
advantages of these devices is to make them connected to the Internet in
such a way that some of your personal data does not travel. To do this,
it would be enough to resort to a router that has its own VPN, which
would mask enough information about our habits and location to enjoy
some privacy: all data would be transmitted in a encrypted way.
However,
the ' firewall ' of some routers already allows to establish certain
restrictions to those devices of the Internet of the things that do not
cease in their attempt to send personal data. Just configure the router
for it and, of course, keep the ' firewall ' as up-to-date as possible
to have the greatest protection.
If
this were not enough, some specific ' firewalls ' have been created,
precisely to put doors to that field called the Internet of Things. This
is the case of Cujo, a small device that offers a ' firewall ' designed
for all connected devices that allows to protect them from cyber.
Your
data may go to the company that offers you a service, but what less to
avoid that intimate information ends up in the hands of a cybercriminal.
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