Read this if you are skeptical about China using their products to spy on us

There has been a lot of talk about China deviously installing spy software in their consumer goods sold in the West, including in cars to allow the authorities in that dictatorship to collect data about what is happening in the West at a micro-scale which they can use in the future to increase their dominance of the world order. 

It sounds fanciful but Which? magazine has said that some Chinese-made airfriers collect personal data and send it back to servers in China using a smartphone app. Smartphones are often paired wirelessly with these sorts of devices to operate them which gives China a way in to monitor people.

The report in The Times states that: "The consumer group [Which?] tested four types of smart gadgets to see how invasive they were of users' privacy. Air fryers made by Xiaomi, Aigostar and Cosori...all wanted to record audio on users' phones with no specified reason, as well as know the customer's precise location, Which? said. The Aigostar and Xiaomi fryers both sent people's personal data to servers in China and the Xiaomi app connected to trackers from Facebook and TikTok."

In addition, "the Huawei Ultimate smartwatch was classed as giving invasive access to parts of someone's phone, including precise location, the ability to record audio, access to stored files and the ability to see all the other apps installed."

Samsung's TV app requested eight "risky" phone permissions including being able to see all the other apps on iPhone.

Trackers in apps are software that monitor data about your activity including how you use your app, your location and the device that you are using.

The information is often sent to big businesses such as Facebook and Google which use the information to target users in respect of advertisements.

In response to the finding, for example, Xiaomi said that it adhered to all UK data protection laws and did "not sell any personal information to 3rd parties".

Can you trust China? Personally the answer to that question is a big NO.

-----------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.