How tech companies deceive you into giving up your data and privacy

Have you ever actually read the terms and conditions for the apps you use? Finn Myrstad and his team at the Norwegian Consumer Council have, and it took them nearly a day and a half to read the terms of all the apps on an average phone. In a talk about the alarming ways tech companies deceive their users, Myrstad shares insights about the personal information you've agreed to let companies collect -- and how they use your data at a scale you could never imagine.

Do you remember when you were a child,

you probably had a favorite toy
that was a constant companion,

like Christopher Robin
had Winnie the Pooh,

and your imagination
fueled endless adventures?

What could be more innocent than that?

Well, let me introduce you
to my friend Cayla.

Cayla was voted toy of the year
in countries around the world.

She connects to the internet
and uses speech recognition technology

to answer your child's questions,

respond just like a friend.

But the power doesn't lie
with your child's imagination.

It actually lies with the company
harvesting masses of personal information

while your family is innocently
chatting away in the safety of their home,

a dangerously false sense of security.

This case sounded alarm bells for me,

as it is my job to protect
consumers' rights in my country.

And with billions of devices such as cars,

energy meters and even vacuum cleaners
expected to come online by 2020,

we thought this was a case
worth investigating further.

Because what was Cayla doing

with all the interesting things
she was learning?

Did she have another friend she was
loyal to and shared her information with?

Yes, you guessed right. She did.

In order to play with Cayla,

you need to download an app
to access all her features.

Parents must consent to the terms
being changed without notice.

The recordings of the child,
her friends and family,

can be used for targeted advertising.

And all this information can be shared
with unnamed third parties.

Enough? Not quite.

Anyone with a smartphone
can connect to Cayla

within a certain distance.

When we confronted the company
that made and programmed Cayla,

they issued a series of statements

that one had to be an IT expert
in order to breach the security.

Shall we fact-check that statement
and live hack Cayla together?

Here she is.

Cayla is equipped with a Bluetooth device

which can transmit up to 60 feet,

a bit less if there's a wall between.

That means I, or any stranger,
can connect to the doll

while being outside the room
where Cayla and her friends are.

And to illustrate this,

I'm going to turn Cayla on now.

Let's see, one, two, three.

There. She's on. And I asked a colleague

to stand outside with his smartphone,

and he's connected,

and to make this a bit creepier ...

(Laughter)

let's see what kids could hear Cayla say
in the safety of their room.

Man: Hi. My name is Cayla. What is yours?

Finn Myrstad: Uh, Finn.

Man: Is your mom close by?

FM: Uh, no, she's in the store.

Man: Ah. Do you want
to come out and play with me?

FM: That's a great idea.

Man: Ah, great.

FM: I'm going to turn Cayla off now.

(Laughter)

We needed no password

or to circumvent any other
type of security to do this.

We published a report
in 20 countries around the world,

exposing this significant security flaw

and many other problematic issues.

So what happened?

Cayla was banned in Germany,

taken off the shelves
by Amazon and Wal-Mart,

and she's now peacefully resting

at the German Spy Museum in Berlin.

(Laughter)

However, Cayla was also for sale
in stores around the world

for more than a year
after we published our report.

What we uncovered is that
there are few rules to protect us

and the ones we have
are not being properly enforced.

We need to get the security
and privacy of these devices right

before they enter the market,

because what is the point
of locking a house with a key

if anyone can enter it
through a connected device?

You may well think,
"This will not happen to me.

I will just stay away
from these flawed devices."

But that won't keep you safe,

because simply by
connecting to the internet,

you are put in an impossible
take-it-or-leave-it position.

Let me show you.

Like most of you,
I have dozens of apps on my phone,

and used properly,
they can make our lives easier,

more convenient and maybe even healthier.

But have we been lulled
into a false sense of security?

It starts simply by ticking a box.

Yes, we say,

I've read the terms.

But have you really read the terms?

Are you sure they didn't look too long

and your phone was running out of battery,

and the last time you tried
they were impossible to understand,

and you needed to use the service now?

And now, the power
imbalance is established,

because we have agreed
to our personal information

being gathered and used
on a scale we could never imagine.

This is why my colleagues and I
decided to take a deeper look at this.

We set out to read the terms

of popular apps on an average phone.

And to show the world
how unrealistic it is

to expect consumers
to actually read the terms,

we printed them,

more than 900 pages,

and sat down in our office
and read them out loud ourselves,

streaming the experiment
live on our websites.

As you can see, it took quite a long time.

It took us 31 hours,
49 minutes and 11 seconds

to read the terms on an average phone.

That is longer than a movie marathon
of the "Harry Potter" movies

and the "Godfather" movies combined.

(Laughter)

And reading is one thing.

Understanding is another story.

That would have taken us
much, much longer.

And this is a real problem,

because companies have argued
for 20 to 30 years

against regulating the internet better,

because users have consented
to the terms and conditions.

As we've shown with this experiment,

achieving informed consent
is close to impossible.

Do you think it's fair to put the burden
of responsibility on the consumer?

I don't.

I think we should demand
less take-it-or-leave-it

and more understandable terms
before we agree to them.

(Applause)

Thank you.

Now, I would like to tell you
a story about love.

Some of the world's
most popular apps are dating apps,

an industry now worth more than,
or close to, three billion dollars a year.

And of course, we're OK
sharing our intimate details

with our other half.

But who else is snooping,

saving and sharing our information

while we are baring our souls?

My team and I decided to investigate this.

And in order to understand
the issue from all angles

and to truly do a thorough job,

I realized I had to download

one of the world's
most popular dating apps myself.

So I went home to my wife ...

(Laughter)

who I had just married.

"Is it OK if I establish a profile
on a very popular dating app

for purely scientific purposes?"

(Laughter)

This is what we found.

Hidden behind the main menu
was a preticked box

that gave the dating company access
to all my personal pictures on Facebook,

in my case more than 2,000 of them,

and some were quite personal.

And to make matters worse,

when we read the terms and conditions,

we discovered the following,

and I'm going to need to take out
my reading glasses for this one.

And I'm going to read it for you,
because this is complicated.

All right.

"By posting content" --

and content refers to your pictures, chat

and other interactions
in the dating service --

"as a part of the service,

you automatically grant to the company,

its affiliates, licensees and successors

an irrevocable" -- which means
you can't change your mind --

"perpetual" -- which means forever --

"nonexclusive, transferrable,
sublicensable, fully paid-up,

worldwide right and license
to use, copy, store, perform,

display, reproduce, record,

play, adapt, modify
and distribute the content,

prepare derivative works of the content,

or incorporate the content
into other works

and grant and authorize sublicenses
of the foregoing in any media

now known or hereafter created."

That basically means
that all your dating history

and everything related to it
can be used for any purpose for all time.

Just imagine your children
seeing your sassy dating photos

in a birth control ad 20 years from now.

But seriously, though --

(Laughter)

what might these commercial
practices mean to you?

For example, financial loss:

based on your web browsing history,

algorithms might decide
whether you will get a mortgage or not.

Subconscious manipulation:

companies can analyze your emotions
based on your photos and chats,

targeting you with ads
when you are at your most vulnerable.

Discrimination:

a fitness app can sell your data
to a health insurance company,

preventing you from getting
coverage in the future.

All of this is happening
in the world today.

But of course, not all uses
of data are malign.

Some are just flawed or need more work,

and some are truly great.

And there is some good news as well.

The dating companies
changed their policies globally

after we filed a legal complaint.

But organizations such as mine

that fight for consumers' rights
can't be everywhere.

Nor can consumers fix this on their own,

because if we know
that something innocent we said

will come back to haunt us,

we will stop speaking.

If we know that we are being
watched and monitored,

we will change our behavior.

And if we can't control who has our data
and how it is being used,

we have lost the control of our lives.

The stories I have told you today
are not random examples.

They are everywhere,

and they are a sign
that things need to change.

And how can we achieve that change?

Well, companies need to realize
that by prioritizing privacy and security,

they can build trust
and loyalty to their users.

Governments must create a safer internet

by ensuring enforcement
and up-to-date rules.

And us, the citizens?

We can use our voice

to remind the world that technology
can only truly benefit society

if it respects basic rights.

Thank you so much.

(Applause)