this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2025

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Your devices feed AI assistants and harvest personal data even if they’re asleep (www.livescience.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Like it or not, artificial intelligence has become part of daily life. Many devices — including electric razors and toothbrushes — have become AI-powered," using machine learning algorithms to track how a person uses the device, how the device is working in real time, and provide feedback. From asking questions to an AI assistant like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot to monitoring a daily fitness routine with a smartwatch, many people use an AI system or tool every day.

While AI tools and technologies can make life easier, they also raise important questions about data privacy. These systems often collect large amounts of data, sometimes without people even realizing their data is being collected. The information can then be used to identify personal habits and preferences, and even predict future behaviors by drawing inferences from the aggregated data.

An assistant professor of cybersecurity at West Virginia University, studies how emerging technologies and different types of AI systems manage personal data and how we can build more secure and privacy-preserving systems for the future.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Fuck that, if I'm allowed to say so.

I wear a dumb watch that does not even need a battery (it's mechanical)
I don' use a fitness app, I write my exercises log in my (paper) journal.
My (electrical) toothbrush has no computer or wifi included, just tiny bristles ;)
Nor have my notebook and pencil/ballpoint/fountain pen, and they don't need constant recharge either.
My phone is just that: a phone, without any extra app installed beside what I'm really forced to use (aka banking, digital ID and 2FA and password manager). No game, no social, no t even email.

They can't track what is not there to begin with.

Also, I don't want my life to be easier (is constant charging and updates and upgrades really that easier?), I want my life to be meaningful.

edit: rephrasing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

are you really forced to use banking and digital id apps, though? what country is that?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

France and, yep, depending the bank (I have multiple), they all push you to use the app but some will not even allow you to open an account without the app. Even traditional banks will push hard to use the heir app, I mean.

Digital ID is not mandatory yet, but using online services can be a lot simpler using some sort of IDying and, at the very least, one better have 2FA, or something better, configured on the phone for any type of access that is worth securing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

ok, but requiring standard TOTP 2FA is one thing. that can be perfectly privately and without any real issue. but that and mandating the usage of an app with built in snitching and which refuses to work on non google-approved devices are different things.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

ok, but requiring standard TOTP 2FA is one thing. that can be perfectly privately and without any real issue.

I see at least three issues: the extra cost, the extra layer of complexity it introduces, and the almost complete loss of autonomy it creates. Exactly like with public transits in many places switching to digital tickets instead of paper ones, save that it's much worse when it concerns our ID and personal security/authentication.

but that and mandating the usage of an app with built in snitching and which refuses to work on non google-approved devices are different things.

That would not be an issue at all if there was no requirement/expectation to use any phone or device of any kind to begin with. To me, that's the real point worth considering but it's also a point very few are actually willing to consider because 'technology is always the solution, never the issue' ;)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I see at least three issues: the extra cost, the extra layer of complexity it introduces, and the almost complete loss of autonomy it creates

I don't see the first 2 issues. it is very easy to implement code based 2FA, both on server side and client side. it also has a lower maintenance, because it doesn't need anothet API endpoint that the app can send data to. it is less complex, even if we don't account for whatever crosscheck the backend does with play integrity servers.

the 3rd one I don't understand. the government shouldn't have autonomy over my phone. but probably I misunderstood this one

That would not be an issue at all if there was no requirement/expectation to use any phone or device of any kind to begin with. To me, that's the real point worth considering but it's also a point very few are actually willing to consider because 'technology is always the solution, never the issue' ;)

hmm. does your place have physical government offices, where you can get a paper ticket to an administator? do they also require you to use their shitty app? if yes and no, then technically it is not a requirement, but it's intentionally very complicated and time consuming to go without the app

I think the play integrity bullshit is also a big issue. it literally prevents people, anyone, from showing their backs to these corpo scumbags (google and the manufacturers)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

source on how easy it is to implement 2FA: https://drewdevault.com/2022/10/18/TOTP-is-easy.html

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

So which device doesn't so I can buy that one?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Depends on the level of technology you're willing to go to:

Smart phones today you're probably all out of luck, whether it's Google's Android, Huawei's HarmonyOS, or Apple's iOS. Same with any desktop PC.
Dumb phones without internet connectivity, like the Mudita Pure, can get you pretty far, but as you're making calls and sending texts through your telecall provider, your provider might use that data for training purposes still.

For other technological devices, like fitness trackers, TVs, cars, fridges, or any IoT device really, that somehow either connects to internet or syncs to a device with such capability (your phone) in order to phone home, you're likely out of luck.
Dumb devices, like mechanical timepieces, monitors, and "normal refridgerators" can get you pretty far, but remember that your purchases of these things, along with all the metadata of those purchases, might also be tracked and trained on.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

The one with no computer in it