Which?, the magazine of the UK Consumers' Association, reports that its test of air fryers revealed that the gadgets were sharing user data with third parties for marketing purposes. The apps for the new "smart" models in its roundup all wanted permission to record audio through users' phones during setup.
As summarized by The Register's Dan Robinson,"One wanted to know gender and date of birth when setting up an owner account, while the Xiaomi app linked to its air fryer was found to be connected with trackers from Facebook, Pangle (the ad network of TikTok for Business), and Chinese tech giant Tencent."
Far be it from me to judge a gadget without looking at it, but think twice before buying an air fryer from Xiaomi.
Praised in a Which's look at smart speakers were Amazon and Google, for offering clear choices which allowed users to skip requests to share data—notwithstanding the requirement to have accounts with these companies in the first place. Bose's Home Speaker app requested the fewest permissions to begin with, but is "stuffed with trackers."
And the general tone of Which's report is downbeat on privacy. Here it is on the state of play with Smart TVs, among the worst of them.
Smart TV menus are littered with ads, and thirsty for user data. The Hisense and Samsung TVs required a postcode to set up, according to Which?. LG asked for a postcode, but this was not mandatory. Samsung said a postcode was not mandatory for set up, but according to Which?'s tests, it appeared to be a requirement. Samsung's TV requested eight risky phone permissions, including seeing all apps on a user's phone. The Hisense did not connect to any trackers, Which? found, but Samsung and LG linked to a range of them, including Facebook and Google.
The UK Information Commissioner, the country's non-departmental public regulator, has new guidance coming for smart devices in 2025. But more old-school shenanigans are still afoot to be dealt with when it comes to predatory marketing.
WerepairUK Ltd, based in Tonbridge, has been fined £80,000 for making 42,688 unsolicited calls. It has appealed our decision.
Service Box Group Limited, based in Hove, East Sussex, has been fined £40,000 for 5,361 calls.
These calls were made to people who had explicitly opted out of receiving marketing communications, violating their privacy and in some cases causing significant distress. There is clear evidence that in both cases, older people were called repeatedly. Some individuals were subjected to repeated phone calls, attempting to pressure them into buying warranties for white goods, such as fridges and washing machines
Previously:
• Your cable operator is spying on you and selling the data from your set-top box
• Your WiFi-enabled camera might be spying on you
• Your Internet-connected car is spying on you, and your premium could go up
