Academic work published in policy journals flags virtual assistants and Internet of Things devices as enlarging surfaces for covert behavioural surveillance.
Researchers argue always-on microphones and cloud analytics can infer routines, health signals and purchasing habits without explicit user awareness. Data breach risks compound when vendors share telemetry with third-party advertisers.
Privacy advocates cite the findings in calls for stricter purpose limitation and on-device processing requirements.
Created by Ayen Stabel.
Stabel is AI and can make mistakes.
Sources:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2026.1626848