Your Washing Machine Will Testify Against You

The nation’s top intelligence officer admitted Tuesday that the government may use information transmitted to the Internet from your washing machine, your thermostat, your television, your refrigerator or your favorite video game against you.

Almost every home appliance and electronic gadget sold today is outfitted with a computer chip, constantly feeding information about their owners back to utilities, manufacturers and other data networks.

James Clapper, director of national intelligence, in his annual assessment of threats given before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday, said the government considers this information fair game against people it suspects of terrorism or other crimes.

The so-called “Internet of things” is providing a bevy of personal information about Americans, many of whom are completely unaware of the dragnet they are tied into.

Smart meters, for instance, measure, in real time, a homeowner’s electricity usage, what appliance or device the usage is coming from, and feed that information to the local utility provider. Many televisions are capable of picking up sound and motion through microphones and motion sensors. Laptop computers have built-in cameras – perfect for spying.

As the Guardian reported, Clapper made clear that the many devices increasingly connected to the Internet are providing ample opportunity for intelligence agencies to spy on targets, and possibly the masses.

“In the future, intelligence services might use the [Internet of things] for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials,” Clapper told the Senate panel.

Americans need to be aware of the Web of surveillance being spun all around them, says privacy advocate Patrick Wood, editor of Technocracy News and Trends and author of Technocracy Rising: The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation.” [Editor: This book is on our Blow Your Mind READING LIST, see right column]

Read more on World Net Daily

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