This cartoon was inspired by a post from the cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes, which refers to a study by a British consumer rights group called Which? (that’s their name), that examined unnecessary data harvesting by “smart” devices, including air fryers. Certain brands wanted permission to record audio on users’ phones and track precise location, and one brand connected its app to trackers from Facebook and Tiktok. None of this digital access is actually necessary for the fryer to function. While air fryers may not pose the greatest privacy risk in our everyday lives, they are part of a growing Internet of Things that I find extremely weird.
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