Televisions that can stream platforms like Hulu or Max usually come loaded with technology that collects information on what viewers are watching, and buyers consent to have their viewing tracked when they open their new TV and click through terms of service agreements. Sometimes, data firms can connect those viewing habits to a voter’s phone or laptop via their IP address, promising a trove of information about an individual and the ability to track them across screens.
Other times, firms focus on dividing households into groups based on what they’re watching, how they use their TVs and how many campaign ads they’re seeing, which is a boon to political campaigns eager to target specific groups of voters. Connecting this data to voter files is increasingly a focus — a move that adds individual voting habits into the mix.
For example, my sleep apnea machine had a wifi for home and a LTE modem. Data gathered by the machine was sent off-site…no reports available on the host. Privacy policy read it would gather info, run diagnostics on itself and the local network without explanation of what it was doing.
My sleep data could not be viewed by me, only through the 3rd party, so I ripped out the wifi board and LTE chip. I haul the machine into my doctor office so he can cycle through data on the tiny display.
He hates it, but I remind him he picked the machine without asking me if I agreed to to the data collection.
Ya fuck that. That’s why I have an IOT vlan, though even that has its caveats. Nest speakers with microphones and your sleep apnea machine have some good personal data gathering capabilities despite it.
For insurance to cover it the data tells them whether you are using it or not. If you don’t meet the minimum usage they won’t pay for the machine. Buying it yourself negates that, but they can get spendy.
Do not buy Philips.
They make you buy the machine… The data is collected for doctor review, but instead of letting me use the open FOSS reporting, it’s encrypted so that I can’t see my own data.
After that experience I’m certain sleep apnea machines are a huge insurance racket. 45 dollars for a replacement plastic tube…lol