What If Alexa has seen you without clothes, it’s fine

After Amazon launched its iRobot Roomba i6, consumers were left concerned about privacy as Amazon would gain access to information about the home such as its layout.

However, Patrick Hearn from Digital Trends says this won’t affect privacy because people don’t really have privacy anyway.

Hearn says privacy is “a thing of the past” as smart technology offsets the loss of privacy.

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The technology relies on trust, meaning shoppers must trust Amazon or other companies before using machines that use motion sensors, security cameras, and presence detectors.

Smart home technology certainly has all the data about the home. Hearn said he trusts Amazon.

He explained that if the tech giant were to sell customer data to someone else, “it would be a stupid business.” Hearn said they would only use it to promote more products to consumers.

He added that using ad blockers is a solution to those ads, which means selling data for ads may not be such a big deal.

The author of the smart home said that privacy was not an issue because there was really nothing in a person’s daily routine that could be abused. Giving his example, he said that there is not much to know.

“If Alexa has a sneaky built-in subroutine to take nude pictures of me, well, maybe she can send me something,” he quipped.

In an ideal world, he said, we would all want our private moments not to be invaded. However, smart technology not only allows this but also makes it necessary to use it.

“What if someone blackmails me over a nude photo?”

Citing a study, Hearn said hackers weren’t interested in a person’s private chats or nude photos unless they included banking information.

So, the user can simply turn off the microphone when not using Alexa and buy cameras with lens covers.