Warning over rising popularity of gadgets in the home

Gadgets such as Alex a and Google Assistant are becoming increasingly popular but people are being warned of the dangers of filling their homes with smart technology.

Televisions, thermostats, door locks, light bulbs, bathroom scale sand toothbrushes can now all connect to the internet and collect and transmit data about personal behaviour.

Two university academics have questioned what happens to the data collected by these devices and who then uses it - because data is now a valuable commodity.

Professor Chris Speed and Joe Lindley, who are experts on the“internet of things”, also cautioned about security, saying smart technology is susceptible to hackers.

They were speaking at an event at Cheltenham Science Festival discussing the impact the “internet of things” and technology has on the home.

Prof Speed, from the University of Edinburgh, said smart technology could be used positively in the health sector to diagnose disease but warned of the problems of regulating that data.

“There are third-party relationships between Google and the NHS-it means that if I’m sitting on an ‘internet of things’ toilet in England I don’t know where my toilet activity has gone,” he said. “It may well have been sold to a third party and I get a bundle of toilet roll on my doorstep two weeks’ later.”

He added :“There are darker correlations. Who makes the decision that I need more toilet paper?”