Last week, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas tried to get support for a bill that would inform consumers if an appliance has the potential to monitor them, in what he calls a way to stop Big Tech from spying on the little guy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington are today supporting the Informing Consumers about Smart Devices Act, which cleared the Senate Commerce Committee in March, according to the U.K. Daily Mail,<\/a> which noted it has already been approved in the House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, Cruz wanted the bill to be given\u00a0unanimous consent<\/a>\u00a0so it could move to the White House for President Joe Biden\u2019s signature, but Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky objected on the grounds that good intentions do not necessarily mean good legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The risk of an appliance knowing more about your habits<\/a> than you do is not some bureaucratic fancy. Bob Vila\u2019s website recently noted that even your smart refrigerator can be misused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you consider that companies want to know all about what you\u2019re buying and using on a day-to-day basis, then a smart\u00a0refrigerator\u00a0with an internal camera looking at what you have inside offers a treasure trove of data. Your smart fridge may also be monitoring family conversations that take place while you\u2019re cooking breakfast,\u201d the\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMany Americans remember waking up on Saturday morning to watch their favorite cartoons, including shows like The Jetsons. As I look at the Senate pages that were here, I suspect none of you have any memory of the Jetsons. For those who are under 40, in the chamber or watching at home, the Jetsons was a futuristic cartoon set in the year 2062. And it depicted a family from the future who had fun, imaginative technologies like jetpacks, holograms, video calls, robot vacuums, smartwatches, and flying cars. While we\u2019re still waiting to see those flying cars in the air, we already have a lot of the Jetsons technology available to us now, in many cases even better than what was depicted in cartoon on the show,\u201d Cruz said, according to the Commerce committee\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToday, internet-connected smart devices are commonly used in American households, light bulbs, mirrors, air fryers, coffeemakers, trash cans, kitchen faucets, refrigerators, and more are all becoming quote unquote, smart. And we\u2019re able to control them with our phones or voice commands. A lot of that is really cool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cruz said the\u00a0tradeoff<\/a>\u00a0is that \u201ca lot of Americans don\u2019t realize or expect that the growing number of smart household devices and appliances, have cameras on them, and microphones that can surreptitiously record families and transmit data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn other words, when you\u2019re buying a new refrigerator, you don\u2019t expect your fridge to record you, or listen to you, or spy on you without your knowledge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow, I\u2019m sympathetic to the\u00a0argument<\/a>\u00a0that there are too many mandates from government and that many of the mandates are unnecessary,\u00a0 burdensome, and costly. But requiring a manufacturer to tell you if they\u2019re spying on you does not fall into that category,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cruz continued, \u201cI don\u2019t think the American people want their air fryer spying on them. And at a minimum, they have a right to know if their air fryer is spying on them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However,\u00a0Paul<\/a>\u00a0said he sticks to his guns that consumers should be the ones demanding change, not the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFar too often Congress operates under the delusion that we know what is best for the American consumer,\u201d he said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis bill mandates what manufacturers must tell consumers because it assumes that consumers are not sophisticated enough to make the judgment themselves,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf American consumers want more information about a product, they can be sure they will make it known. If a manufacturer wants to sell more of their products, you can be sure they will listen to the consumers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Original Article: https:\/\/ijr.com\/air-fryer-spying-warns-ted-cruz-introducing-bipartisan-smart-tech-consumer-privacy-bill\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n