Like many in the technology world, Ali Jelveh, CEO of the Hamburg, Germany-based startup Protonet, has seen great opportunities in the smart home world, estimated to be a $15.6 billion industry in the United States alone this year. But he believes that most consumers are focusing on the ease and convenience of devices such as the Amazon Echo, and not paying enough attention to the tradeoffs, especially in terms of data security.
“These connected sensors are coming into every single inches of our lives,” he says. “Companies are saying, you’ll get some buttons and convenience, and we’ll do the rest, with the rest being extracting data and selling it. We’re just not going to get the privacy that we deserve. We’re not even part of the value chain of our own data.”
Read the rest of this post on the original site »
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?
Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:
First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.
Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.
So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)
If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.
Yes, I'll give $5/month
Yes, I'll give $5/month
We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and
Google Pay. You can also contribute via