When buying a new appliance, many of us can be swayed by smart features like the ability to use it via an app on our phone, but a recent report by UK

Is your toaster spying on you? What data do our appliances collect?

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2024-11-24 02:30:06

When buying a new appliance, many of us can be swayed by smart features like the ability to use it via an app on our phone, but a recent report by UK consumer group Which? has revealed that often these products are collecting and selling our data.

Watches, security cameras, washing machines, refrigerators and speakers can have security flaws and they be hacked, and in theory you can be watched and listened to.

Perhaps we laugh it off, or say that if we're not doing anything wrong, we have nothing to hide - but we know our cars, if they're new enough, collect data on us; and there's footage online showing that roaming vacuum cleaners can be hacked by bad actors.

Sunday Morning's Jim Mora spoke to Consumer New Zealand chief executive Jon Duffy about how widespread the issue is in Aotearoa.

"Yes, it will be [happening here]," Duffy said: "And not just picking on air fryers - we are increasingly seeing appliances that we're testing networked, so they're 'Internet of Things' devices - think robovacs, think microwaves ... and in particular think vehicles."

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