Nowadays it has become really common to hear the expression “Your home appliances are spying on you”. Though as shocking as it sounds, this is something that hardly outrages anyone.
Maybe we’ve become too desensitized with the emergence of smartphones. Everybody knows that their phones are recording their every word, but hardly anyone moves those monitoring devices to the other room for privacy. Not even while having sex.
So whenever somebody says: Your TV is recording you, your speakers are spying on you… This hardly sounds like a big deal to anybody.
But here’s where things get interesting.
Today, in almost every European newspapers you’ll find the story of these two French kids who happened to open up a food processor to find a working microphone recording their conversations.
And now all of the sudden everybody is outraged, quite understandably I must add. I just wish that the momentum carries on to all the other mischievous spying activities, though I won’t hold my breath.
It’s also worth noting that the food processor in question was bought from LIDL - which is a cheap supermarket chain in Europe - and apparently is one of the best selling home appliances in there.
So the question remains, why would a food processor need a microphone to spy on the homeowners?
For the same reason most websites do, to sell your data. It's like we're the costumers and the product at the same time.
And lastly, I leave you with an interesting question:
If a Hotel owner would certainly go to jail for placing hidden cameras and recording devices without the costumers' knowledge, why should we give Carte Blanche to appliance manufacturers to do the very same horrifying thing?
