Cybercrime

When vacuum cleaners and fridges are spies

What used to only be seen in science fiction films has long been a feature of many households in Upper Austria - and very few people realize it.

We are talking about everything from cameras and microphones in vacuum cleaners and refrigerators to "smart" drinking bottles. Modern robot vacuum cleaners, for example, are able to collect photo and video material. Refrigerators can also often record who empties the bin and when. These technologies are useful, but they are increasingly falling into the wrong hands: Illegal data acquisition and stalking are becoming increasingly easy thanks to the reading of data from household appliances.

Police want more rights
This changes things for the police: more advanced technologies mean more complex work at the crime scene. This is why, as reported, the Upper Austrian provincial police have set up a Cyber Crime Center in Linz for training purposes. Provincial Councillor Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP) and Provincial Police Director Andreas Pilsl agreed during an inspection: the police need more rights in terms of surveillance.