智能家居设备

In a world where we’re all paranoid about devices spying on us (and rightfully so), perhaps no other devices receive more scrutiny than smarthome products. But is that scrutiny warranted?

在一个我们都对监视设备的人都抱有偏执的世界(理应如此)，也许没有其他设备会比智能家居产品受到更多的审查。 但是，仔细检查是否值得？

Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of different products out there that are spying on you, like and , but what about things like smart speakers, Wi-Fi cams, and other smarthome devices? Let’s talk about it.

不要误会我的意思； 有很多不同的产品，在那里，被暗中监视你，就像和，但什么事情，如智能音箱，无线网络摄像头，和其它智能家居设备？ 让我们来谈谈它。

智能设备可以收集数据，但并不像您想象的那样可怕 (Smart Devices Collect Data, but It’s Not as Scary as You Think)

Most smarthome devices need to be connected to the internet to function properly. This lets you control devices remotely from your phone or use voice commands to turn things on and off. Whenever you send a command to your devices, that data gets sent to the company that made that particular device.

大多数智能家居设备需要连接到互联网才能正常运行。 这使您可以从手机远程控制设备，或使用语音命令打开或关闭设备。 每当您向设备发送命令时，该数据就会发送到制造该特定设备的公司。

So if I’m away from home and I want to turn on my smart lights from my phone, I open up the Hue app and turn on the lights. That data gets sent to Philips to get processed, and some server goes “Oh hey, we’ve received a command from Craig’s phone to turn on the lights, so we’re going to send that command to Craig’s Philips Hue Bridge hub.” That’s an incredibly-simplified version of it, but you get the point.

因此，如果我出门在外并且想通过手机打开智能灯，则可以打开Hue应用并打开灯。 数据被发送到飞利浦进行处理，并且一些服务器进入“哦，嘿，我们已经从克雷格的电话收到了打开灯的命令，因此我们将把该命令发送到克雷格的飞利浦Hue Bridge集线器。” 那是它的简化版本，但是您明白了。

The same goes for your smart speaker. Whenever you activate Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant, your voice command gets sent to their servers for processing, and what comes back is the result of your voice command. These companies also store all of the voice commands you’ve ever said, but you can .

您的智能扬声器也是如此。 每当您激活Alexa，Siri或Google Assistant时，您的语音命令就会发送到他们的服务器进行处理，而返回的结果就是您的语音命令的结果。 这些公司还存储您曾经说过的所有语音命令，但是您可以根据需要。

Wi-Fi cameras do the same—video recordings are stored in the cloud. So your Nest Cam recordings are stored on Nest servers. Thankfully, they’re encrypted, so only you can view the video recordings.

Wi-Fi摄像机也是如此—录像存储在云中。 因此，您的Nest Cam录音存储在Nest服务器上。 值得庆幸的是，它们已加密，因此只有您可以观看视频。

Sure, none of this is necessarily sensitive information like your social security number or anything like that, but it does feel a bit weird that Philips technically knows when I turn my lights on and off in my house, and Amazon knows that I frequently ask about the weather in the mornings.

当然，这些都不是必不可少的敏感信息，例如您的社会保险号或类似信息，但是当我在家里开灯和关灯时，飞利浦从技术上知道会感到有些奇怪，而亚马逊知道我经常问早晨的天气。

Here’s the thing, though: This isn’t spying, especially since you agree to all of this data getting sent to these various companies (you do read the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, right?!). Furthermore, your smart speaker isn’t continually recording your conversations 24/7. Yes, it is always listening for the wake word, but it’s not recording.

但是，这是件事情：这并不是间谍，特别是因为您同意将所有这些数据发送给这些不同的公司(您确实阅读了隐私政策和服务条款，对吗？！)。 此外，您的智能扬声器不会连续记录您的会话24/7。 是的，它始终在监听唤醒字，但未录音。

那黑客呢？ (What About Hacking?)

Being spied on by the companies themselves is one thing, but users are also afraid of being spied on by hackers who break into their smarthome devices.

由公司本身监视是一回事，但用户也担心被侵入其智能家居设备的黑客监视。

There’s a legitimate fear around this for sure, and theoretically, it’s possible. However, if you make sure that all of your devices are locked down with a password, as well as two-factor authentication (if available), you make it difficult for something bad to happen.

对此肯定存在合理的恐惧，从理论上讲，这是可能的。 但是，如果您确保所有设备均已使用密码和两因素身份验证(如果有)进行锁定，则很难使不良情况发生。

Furthermore, it’s best to stick with reputable brands when buying smarthome products, rather cheap knock-off Chinese brands. The bigger, popular companies have a reputation to uphold, so it’s always in their best interest to create a secure interface for their devices, whereas a cheap Chinese brand that no one has ever heard of doesn’t need to care.

此外，购买智能家居产品时最好坚持使用知名品牌，而不是便宜的仿冒中国品牌。 较大的受欢迎的公司享有声誉，因此，为其设备创建安全的接口始终是他们的最大利益，而没人听说过的便宜的中国品牌则不需要关心。

翻译自:

智能家居设备