Chinese deep fryers can spy on consumers. What? Warns

A consumer advocacy group has warned British shoppers to carefully check their next electronics purchases after finding evidence of “excessive smart device surveillance” in Chinese deep fryers and other products.

Which? claimed that smart fryers from Xiaomi, Cosori and Aigostar wanted to know the exact location of customers, as well as permission to record audio on the user’s phone.

The Xiaomi app associated with the smart device also connects to Facebook ad trackers, TikTok Pangle ad network and Tencent, depending on the location of the specified user, the report said.

It also says that Aigostar wanted to know the owner’s gender and date of birth when setting up the owner’s account, and that both it and Xiaomi were sending the user’s personal data back to servers in China.

However, Cosori received the worst score for privacy (41%), as it was downgraded on consent, data security, tracking, and data deletion.

Elsewhere, what? said another Chinese vendor, Huawei, has requested nine “risky” phone approvals for those customizing its Ultimate smartwatch.

“Which? defines ‘risky’ as allowing invasive access to parts of someone’s phone. These include precise location, the ability to record audio, access to stored files, or the ability to see all other installed apps,” the consumer group noted.

“The company said that everyone has a legitimate need. Huawei also said that no user data is used for marketing or advertising purposes. Which? found that some trackers are active on Huawei watches, but Huawei said they are only active in certain regions.”

The report also criticized products from non-Chinese suppliers, including Samsung, LG, Amazon and Google.

New ICO rules are coming

“Our research shows how smart technology manufacturers and the firms they work with can now collect data from consumers with seemingly reckless abandon, and often do so with little or no transparency,” says Which? magazine editor Harry Rose.

“Which? calls for the development of sound guidelines outlining what is expected of manufacturers of smart products, and the ICO has confirmed that the code will be introduced in spring 2025 – this should be backed by effective enforcement, including for companies that operate overseas.” .

In a statement sent to Which? Xiaomi apparently claimed that it complies with all UK data protection laws, does not sell personal data to third parties and that the audio recording permission does not apply to its fryer.

Aigostar declined to comment, and Kosori said its smart products are GDPR compliant.

“Compared with smartphones and laptops, excessive data collection from consumer connected devices carries an even greater risk of data leakage: most people are not even aware of the scale and volume of data collected by these devices, even though they have access to personal data. /home environment,” says Megha Kumar, director of product at consulting firm CyXcel.

“To make matters more difficult, most people use some of their connected devices for 5-10 years. People change smartphones more often than refrigerators. There have been several cases where hackers have compromised people’s safety, for example by hacking into their digitally connected heating systems.”