Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Monday February 24 2020, @01:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the Quis-custodiet-ipsos-custodes? dept.

This app lets you see IoT devices around you and what data they're taking:

A new app launched this week will let you know what internet of things technologies are operating around you and what data they are collecting. The Internet of Things Assistant app and its infrastructure, created by Carnegie Mellon researchers, aims to give you more control over the devices tracking your activity and information.

With the app, you'll be able to see devices like public cameras with facial recognition technology, Bluetooth beacons tracking your location at the mall, and your neighbor's smart doorbell or smart speaker, according to a story published by Carnegie Mellon's Security and Privacy Institute. You can see what data these devices collect, and access privacy choices like opting in and out of data collection when available.

[...] If you own an IoT device that operates in a public space, you can use an online portal to publish where your IoT devices are and what data they collect, so they can be added to the app's database.

"We've done the work for you," Sadeh said in the story. "All you need to do is start adding your IoT resources so you can be in compliance with today's privacy laws."


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by zocalo on Monday February 24 2020, @02:23PM (12 children)

    by zocalo (302) on Monday February 24 2020, @02:23PM (#961828)
    Have to admit, my first thoughts were that *finally* someone has developed an neat app scans the Bluetooth/WiFi spectrums, grabs all the MAC addresses off the air it can, matches them up with some kind of enhanced OID DB, then tells you what it has found. Nope, it's just a voluntary data submission into a central DB that almost no one is going to bother with except a few curious geeks, who will probably make up their submitted data anyway.

    Oh well, back to the war-driving approach to figuring out what gadgetry my neighbours have been spending their money on... (Spoiler; it's a huge steaming pile of IoT junk, which grows considerably after each Christmas then slowly dwindles over the subsequent months, but still with an upward trend year on year).
    --
    UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Insightful=1, Interesting=2, Total=3
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday February 24 2020, @03:21PM (9 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 24 2020, @03:21PM (#961850) Journal

    They don't even make non-IOT versions of some things, like TVs and printers, anymore.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 24 2020, @03:24PM (7 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday February 24 2020, @03:24PM (#961853)

      I just assembled a monitor + PiZero to make my own "smart TV" that I control. Amazingly - with all the "choice" out there, products on the market just didn't do what I wanted - LibreElec with 32GB of onboard storage, bluetooth audio out, and a bright 15.6" 1080p screen.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @06:27PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @06:27PM (#961921)

        I picked up a reasonably priced WiFi-enabled TV before the holidays. I haven't set up the WiFi part yet because I wanted to figure the best way to do it. Right now the TV is only doing over-the-air reception. I've looked at a few software options (OSMC, etc.), but I haven't spent too much time trying to figure it all out yet. Are you happy with LibreElec? Did you consider any other options?

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Monday February 24 2020, @08:05PM

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday February 24 2020, @08:05PM (#961968)

          I bought a dumb TV last year, 65", and I have an x86-64 bit Wyse terminal running LibreElec plugged into one of the HDMI ports.

          It works really well, apart from the fact the old Atom processor is a bit underpowered for some hi-def stuff and stutters a bit.

          LibreElec itself is really good, there are plugins for all sorts of stuff, including Netflix. I would recommend it.

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday February 24 2020, @10:50PM

          by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Monday February 24 2020, @10:50PM (#962054) Journal

          I use LibreELEC on RasPi4B 2GB. Primarily for ILLICIT PIRATE STREAMING KODI ADDONS but also YouTube, Pluto TV, radio, etc.

          Some prefer Plex for its features. But it's possible to combine LibreELEC and Plex.

          https://www.howtogeek.com/348829/5-reasons-kodi-users-should-just-switch-to-plex-already/ [howtogeek.com]

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 1) by gmby on Monday February 24 2020, @06:52PM (1 child)

        by gmby (83) on Monday February 24 2020, @06:52PM (#961929)

        What are you using for a over the air tuner? I can't afford Silicondust products. My fist gen unit has worn out its transistors.

        --
        Bye /. and thanks for all the fish.
        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 24 2020, @08:41PM

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday February 24 2020, @08:41PM (#961983)

          It's a special use case: onboard entertainment in a 30' (that's relatively small) yacht. Haven't watched over the air TV in forever, in theory we could stream Netflix or whatever from the cell phones but in practice we just pre-load movies and watch those. If it gets a lot of use I'll probably up the storage from 32GB to 512GB for ~$70. The other actually more common use case for the PiZeroW is for the screen to be off and play (recorded) music over Bluetooth - again, the cell phones could stream to Bluetooth, but I prefer playlists.

          If it proves reliable enough, I might look into getting some real-time marine/weather info into the screen, but for now it does what we want: keeps the kids entertained.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by legont on Monday February 24 2020, @11:27PM (1 child)

        by legont (4179) on Monday February 24 2020, @11:27PM (#962071)

        Yes, works perfectly. I have this setup for years. Need to upgrade to Pi4 as some newer codecs are too heavy, but was not sufficiently bothered yet.

        --
        "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 25 2020, @02:09AM

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday February 25 2020, @02:09AM (#962154)

          The kids have Pi4s for their media/desktop PCs in their rooms, Kodi works great on Raspbian on a 4, and even Chrome/YouTube etc. For the boat I wanted the lower power and lower heat of the Zero.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday February 24 2020, @05:44PM

      by RS3 (6367) on Monday February 24 2020, @05:44PM (#961903)

      > They don't even make non-IOT versions of some things, like TVs and printers, anymore.

      My screwdrivers and wire cutters will have something to say about that.

      That was supposed to be funny. Truth is, WiFi and BlueTooth antennas are very small, but can be found and mechanically disabled. Of course the thing might refuse to work. I prefer to keep older things.

      BTW, more and more people are doing away with landlines, including Internet, instead using a smartphone for everything, so how do IoT things work if you don't have WiFi?

  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 24 2020, @03:21PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday February 24 2020, @03:21PM (#961852)

    my first thoughts were that *finally* someone has developed an neat app scans...

    Yeah, I thought that too, but as they went on it became obvious that the technical challenge is intractable - at least for a startup. I'd bet federal agencies already have these tools.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by epitaxial on Monday February 24 2020, @07:19PM

    by epitaxial (3165) on Monday February 24 2020, @07:19PM (#961943)

    Stores are using devices like this to track customers. I thought there would be a pile of Raspberry Pi based projects that send out broadcasts and see if wifi and bluetooth devices answer. Turns out there is hardly anything. This would be a nice addition to my outdoor surveillance camera. Besides capturing video it could also capture the MAC address of phones. Has anyone done something similar? No I'm not talking about wardriving either but the exact opposite. Looking for clients.