Consumers Say Privacy is a Big Problem for IoT Devices

Households are buying connected homes at an increasing rate but privacy and security issues are major barriers in IoT device uptake, according to a recent survey of UK consumers.

According to a new report on The State of the Connected Home, 23 percent of those surveyed said that privacy is a barrier when considering purchasing a smart device. The survey questioned 1,000 people in the United Kingdom, where 44 percent of households have purchased three or more smart devices in 2018.

It is evident from these survey results that consumers have trust issues with connected smart home devices. Personal privacy is the second highest concern in purchasing connected devices, behind cost and ahead of cyber security. The concerns are higher in certain areas where there is reason for additional concern, such as smart home monitoring.

Privacy concerns have shown up in other surveys about IoT as well. A recent survey of 1,000 home speaker owners in the United Kingdom by Accenture found that over 45 percent of those using a home assistant like Siri or Alexa believe that they are listening all the time. Because of their privacy and security concerns, 28 percent of device users do not make any kind of financial transactions on them.

The biggest outcry about smart devices and privacy occurred in May, when privacy issues cropped up around virtual assistants after an anecdote about the release of a household conversation by Amazon’s Alexa went viral. Such privacy concerns have been the subject of several government warnings. The FTC has previously warned about security and privacy risks in IoT devices, and the FBI did so again last month in a report on how cyber criminals are using vulnerable devices like routers and webcams to conduct attacks and stay anonymous.

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