Your air fryer, and likely any other app-connected device in your life, is harvesting a ton of your personal information. Watchdogs in the U.K. and U.S. are taking notice and trying to curve the flow and sale of this data.
Picture the scene: You’re gathered with family for the holidays and everyone has opened their gifts. Your spouse got you that new air fryer you’ve been eying. You’re excited, ready to see what this thing can do to potatoes when your spouse leans over and gives you the warning.
“It’s the best one on the market, just make sure you don’t speak aloud when you use it.”
Confused why you can’t talk around your new kitchen gadget, you ask your spouse why. “Well,” they say. “It’s an air fryer. You need an app to use it and the app records everything your phone hears.”
This is the sad reality of air fryers and hundreds of other consumer products today. More of our devices are connected than ever before, all running on apps, all collecting data on us that’s fed into electricity-devouring data centers. A November report from U.K. consumer advocacy group Which? detailed some of the worst offenders.
The group looked at the top-rated air fryers on Amazon and studied the privacy risks around them. It goes without saying that the machine you use to crisp up potatoes shouldn’t be listening to you, but it does. Your air fryer, in fact, may know more about you than some of your friends do.
“In the air fryer category, as well as knowing customers’ precise location, all three products wanted permission to record audio on the user’s phone, for no specified reason. The Xiaomi app linked to its air fryer connected to trackers from Facebook, Pangle (the ad network of TikTok for Business), and Chinese tech giant Tencent (depending on the location of the user). The Aigostar air fryer wanted to know gender and date of birth when setting up an owner account, again for no clear reason, but this was optional. The Aigostar and Xiaomi fryers both sent people’s personal data to servers in China, although this was flagged in the privacy notice.”
Which? also looked at smart watches, smart TVs, watches, and a number of other gadgets that will end up under Christmas trees this year. The results were dire across the board. Every electronic device you own is spying on you, especially if it’s connected to an app on your phone.
Most of us know this. We’ve accepted it as part of living in a modern world. There are ways around it, of course. You can use a Pi-Hole or similar device to re-route data collection or avoid using apps. The safest option is to opt out entirely and never use smart devices at all.
But it shouldn’t be this way. Every piece of tech shouldn’t be a devil’s bargain where we allow a tech company to read through our phone’s contact list so we can remotely shut off an oven. More people are pissed about this issue and complaining to their government. Watchdog groups in the U.K. and the U.S. are paying attention.
In Britain, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)—a watchdog group that reports to parliament—said it planned to issue new guidance in early 2025 around data collection. “The ICO is working on new guidance for manufacturers of smart products which will be published in spring 2025. The guidance will outline clear expectations for what they need to do to comply with data protection laws and, in turn, protect people using smart products,” Slavka Bielikova, the principal policy advisor of ICO said after Which?’s report hit the news.
“The guidance will outline clear expectations for what they need to do to comply with data protection laws and, in turn, protect people using smart products,” Bielikova said. “Our guidance will allow manufacturers to plan and invest in the use of information responsibly. We want to help organisations get it right, however where they don’t we will be ready to act to ensure consumers are protected from harm.”
In the United States, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is looking to fight an adjacent but connected problem. A lot of the data hoovered up by smart devices ends up sold and traded on the internet by shady data brokers. It’s asking Congress to give it more power to go after data brokers that sell America’s sensitive information on the open market.
“By selling our most sensitive personal data without our knowledge or consent, data brokers can profit by enabling scamming, stalking, and spying,” Rohit Chopra, CFPB’s Director said in a statement about the proposal. “The CFPB’s proposed rule will curtail these practices that threaten our personal safety and undermine America’s national security.”
The CFPB isn’t asking the U.S. to pass a new law, it just wants it to enforce the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a consumer privacy law passed in 1970. Right now, data brokers are exempt from the law. CFPB wants the loophole they’ve wiggled through shut down.
CFPB announced this request on December 3. How much purchase will a consumer-focused regulatory agency founded in 2011 have in the incoming Trump administration? It’s impossible to know, but the signs aren’t good. Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency are teasing the elimination of sacred cows like veteran’s benefits. It’s hard to imagine a future where a smaller, less-known agency isn’t targeted in the new regime.
No one is coming to save you from your air fryer, I’m saying. Best to keep the apps off your phone and buy the dumbest devices you can
