Now that Christmas presents have been opened and the holiday season is over it is time to look at new devices and check that they are not divulging personal information, advises a provincial privacy commissioner. Many kinds of devices could be collecting and transmitting information. These could include fitness trackers, smart kettles, toys that talk and devices like thermostats that can be set remotely.
“My concern is both what the information disclosed is, where it’s going, who it’s going to be shared with, how is it going to be used,” says Catherine Tully, information and privacy commissioner for the province of Nova Scotia.
Many people are not aware of the problem and many others don’t care. Tully says it is up to people to protect themselves.
“There are privacy laws in Canada that apply to companies…They are collecting information based on consent and your consent, in part, is evidenced by the fact that you’ve bought the device.” Your consent is then confirmed when you are asked to read terms and conditions and often you are asked to click on “I agree.” Or it may be assumed that you agree, simply by your using the product.
Privacy policies issued with devices are often long and complicated. (iStock)
Consumer beware, advises commissioner
“The basic advice that I give to people is, number one, you have to read the privacy policy….and I understand it can be a challenge. Focus on who is owning the data and who are they sharing the information with,” says Tully.
“The second thing you really have to do is you have to manage the security on the device…When you pull it out of the box it’s going to have some default settings such as default passwords, possible a default user name and those are commonly known. So, you need to take the time to understand the security and reset any kinds of defaults so that people can’t take advantage of the known defaults on those devices.”
Protect your wifi, says Tully
“The third thing you really need to think about is, chances are any of these smart devices are connected to your wifi. So, as you set it up it’s going to ask you for your wifi password. That means the device now holds your wifi password. “You’re using your wifi perhaps to bank. Perhaps you have some medical apps that you’re now using that you’re putting personal health information.
“The security of your wifi is really at risk based on the weakest device you have connected to your whole network. So, you have to make sure that you either encrypt your wifi or you disable the wifi on these devices when you’re not using them to try to keep your wifi network more secure.”
Consumers can complain
Tully notes that Canada has a federal privacy commissioner and that people can complain if they are not satisfied with the protection of their privacy provided on commercial products and services.
(photo: Steve Lawrence/CBC)
Catherine Tully says new devices can collect and transmit personal information and consumers need to protect themselves.
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