I'm not surprised that most mainstream buyers don't know about this, but I'm surprised that this is still news to HN readers. In addition to past HN coverage (https://qqrl.tk/item?id=21657930 and others), in the last year it's been in NYT, WaPo, Consumer Reports, and tons of other places.
That said, if anyone doesn't already at least skim the privacy policies of any networked devices they own… now is a good time.
Even retailers often sell your info. For example, Target "may share your personal information with other companies." Crate & Barrel may share "a record of any transactions you conduct on our Website or offline" with third parties. The defaults are worse than any reasonable person would expect.
That said, if anyone doesn't already at least skim the privacy policies of any networked devices they own… now is a good time.
Even retailers often sell your info. For example, Target "may share your personal information with other companies." Crate & Barrel may share "a record of any transactions you conduct on our Website or offline" with third parties. The defaults are worse than any reasonable person would expect.
(Have a few extra dollars? Consider spending it on a DIY public service campaign. I've been promoting https://twitter.com/simpleoptout/status/1191029269691957249 and other tweets to followers of Samsung's Twitter accounts.)