In-brief: A prominent Googler says the company is committed to keeping the Android operating system open source, but wouldn’t mind the security benefits that come with Apple’s closed iOS ecosystem, either!
Search Results for "Smart TV"
Tech, Retail Firms Propose Privacy Standards for Internet of Things
In-brief: The Online Trust Alliance, a group representing some of the largest technology and retail firms in the U.S., has proposed a framework for ensuring the privacy and security of connected devices. The OTA proposal would eliminate some of the more egregious data harvesting practices of connected device makers.
Gadgets That Spy On Their Owners
When the recent brouhaha erupted over Samsung SmartTV’s habit of harvesting ambient conversations and transmitting that data to unnamed third parties, we noted that Samsung was hardly alone. In fact, Security Ledger reported on identical behavior by LG television sets back in May, 2014. But, as this article notes, televisions aren’t the only sensor-rich devices that are seeing and hearing what goes on around us. Forget about Samsung or LG getting recordings of you laughing at The Daily Show, or foggy conversations you have about what to watch next. What about Microsoft Xbox Kinect, which includes sound, motion and infrared sensors that can track up to six individuals simultaneously? Also mentioned: Google Waze, Amazon Echo and GM’s OnStar. The question – as always- is about what privacy protections consumers should expect from connected devices. While all the above manufacturers sought “consent” from users in the text of verbose and legalistic Terms […]
CES: The Security Questions Nobody Wants You To Ask
A note that CES – the Consumer Electronics Show – is once again upon us. Prepare yourself for three or four days of tipsy reporting from the mainstream media about all the gee whiz gadgets that will soon be yours…or not. Let’s face it: a lot of what’s shown at CES is proof of concept stuff and some of it is just too downright silly to ever catch on. Remember HAPIFork? The “smart” fork that would warn you when you were shoveling grub into your maw too quickly? Right. Product security and data privacy are almost always lost in the excitement over the new gadgets and the TUSs. (Televisions of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist!) That’s why, over on the Veracode blog, I put together a quick list of impertinent questions that every security-minded CES attendee should have at their fingertips. The questions cover a wide range of […]
Two Faces of the IoT: A Conversation With Xively’s Philip DesAutels
Conversations about the Internet of Things often focus on its most visible outposts: consumer devices. Products like the Nest Thermostat, IP-enabled home security cameras or Samsung’s Smart TV are like ambassadors for the IoT: highlighting cool features and capabilities that just hint at the transformative power of the much larger revolution that small, powerful Internet-connected objects will herald. The truth is that although consumers are still warming to the Internet of Things, businesses and industry have already embraced it. Manufacturers of heavy equipment have outfitted their products with an extensive mesh of small sensors that provide close to real-time data on the functioning of critical components. As a measure of this, Virgin Airlines said in March that it will upgrade its network infrastructure to accommodate an “explosion” of data from a new fleet of Boeing 787 Jetliners, which will produce close to half a Terabyte of data per flight. But what is […]
