Presented at
CactusCon 11 (2023),
Jan. 28, 2023, 5 p.m.
(30 minutes).
Millions of video doorbells have been installed outside of U.S. homes. They’re so ubiquitous that you might expect to be captured on other people’s video feeds every time you walk or drive down the street. What you might not be aware of is that video doorbells can record audio, too. Conversations you have in your own home or when walking by a neighbor’s house may be sitting on Amazon’s servers. You might be recording audio from unsuspecting passersby, too. In this talk, we’ll discuss Consumer Reports research—both in our lab and outside of our smart home reporter’s home—on audio capture distance. We’ll delve into potential risks and privacy concerns. And we’ll discuss what video doorbell owners can do (short of getting rid of the devices altogether).
Presenters:
-
Yael Grauer
- product manager & investigative tech reporter
Yael Grauer is an investigative tech reporter covering online privacy and security, digital freedom and mass surveillance. For her day job, she manages Security Planner, a free, easy-to-use guide to staying safer online. She’s written for Ars Technica, the Intercept, WIRED, Motherboard, Slate, Wirecutter, OneZero and other publications. She’s co-organized events and spoken publicly about digital security, source protection, ethics, VPNs, the audio capabilities of doorbell cameras, and more. She holds a Master of Mass Communication degree from ASU, which was an interesting way to kill time between DEF CONs.
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