With the holidays upon us, it's easy to default to giving the tech gifts that retailers tend to push on us this time of year: smart speakers, video doorbells, bluetooth trackers, fitness trackers, and other connected gadgets are all very popular gifts.
A number of these gifts raise red flags for us as privacy-conscious digital advocates.
Ring cameras are one of the most obvious examples, but countless others over the years have made the security or privacy naughty list.
One big problem with giving these sorts of gifts is that you're opting another person into a company's intrusive surveillance practice, likely without their full knowledge of what they're really signing up for.
Unless the giftee is tapped deeply into tech news, they likely don't know there's a chance for human review of any recordings.
The new business can suddenly change the dynamic of the privacy and security agreements that the user made with the old business when they started using one of those products.
Long subjected to surveillance from elves and their managers, electronics gifts for kids can come with all sorts of surprise issues, like the kid-focused tablet we found this year that was packed with malware and riskware.
Kids' smartwatches and a number of connected toys are also potential privacy hazards that may not be worth the risks if not set up carefully.
There are plenty of products out there that aren't creepy, and a few that just need extra attention during set up to ensure they're as privacy-protecting as possible.
One helpful place to start is Mozilla's Privacy Not Included gift guide, which provides a breakdown of the privacy practices and history of products in a number of popular gift categories.
If you're more tech savvy than the person receiving the item, or you're helping set up a gadget for a child, there's no better gift than helping set it up as privately as possible.
Take a few minutes after they've unboxed the item and walk through the set up process with them.
Enable two-factor authentication when available to help secure their new account.
If there are any social sharing settings-particularly popular with fitness trackers and game consoles-disable any unintended sharing that might end up on a public profile.
If there's an app associated with the new device, help them choose which permissions to allow, and which to deny.
While you're at it, help them with other settings on their phone, and make sure to disable the phone's advertising ID. Speaking of advertising IDs, some devices have their own advertising settings, usually located somewhere like, Settings > Privacy > Ad Preferences.
If there's an option to disable any ad tracking, take advantage of it.
While you're in the settings, you may find other device-specific privacy or data usage settings.
If during the setup process, you notice some gaps in their security hygiene, it might also be a great opportunity to help them set up other security measures, like setting up a password manager.
Giving the gift of electronics shouldn't come with so much homework, but until we have a comprehensive data privacy law, we'll likely have to contend with these sorts of set-up hoops.
This Cyber News was published on www.eff.org. Publication date: Thu, 07 Dec 2023 20:43:06 +0000