The United States intelligence chief has admitted in a statement that smart gadgets and Internet pf Things (IoT) devices with wireless connectivity might be spied on by the federal government. This could include self-driving cars, smart appliances such as TVs and refrigerators, and home security and lighting systems.
US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper gave the prepared testimony. It was part of a national report submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee on February 9, Tuesday.
Tech experts have shared that such gadgets could provide various issues. They include ones involving data privacy and continuity of service.
In the future intelligence services could use IoT for various functions such as identification, monitoring, surveillance, and location tracking, according to Computerworld.
Internet of Things was the first topic in the "cyber and technology" section of the report. It was followed by artificial intelligence (AI).
CIA Director David Petraeus also stated four years ago that the federal government could use connected devices for surveillance. However, a recent Harvard report highlighted how wide IoT spying could be.
The report listed many examples of connected devices that could be tapped. They include driverless cars, smart TVs and refrigerators, intelligent thermostats and smoke detectors, IP cameras, Amazon's Echo speaker, smartphones, and smart toys including Hello Barbie.
However, some of the listed items are more surprising including smart light bulbs, door locks, motion detectors, crock pots, wearable devices such as fitness trackers, and pregnancy tests. Such items contain sensors and wireless web connectivity.
The Harvard report noted that intelligence agencies and law enforcement could request orders to intercept a target's communications. It could affect companies such as Google, Samsung, and Mattel.
Harvard's report disproved the FBI's argument that it is going dark because the "bad guys" are using encryption. FBI Director James Comey recently stated he wants citizens to obey court orders so "backdoor" unauthorized remote access is not needed.
Recently the ENCRYPT Act was also introduced in the US House of Representatives. The bipartisan law would prevent state and local governments from requiring that a developer or manufacturer design or change a product's security so authorities could spy on it, according to Reuters.
Here's a video on street light spying: