Devices with digital assistants and voice control, such as “smart speakers”, are becoming more widespread in households where they are potentially eavesdropping on buyers in their most private spaces.
The devices collect personal data and send it to the manufacturers. Non-transparent data analysis exacerbates the imbalance between suppliers and consumers.
In future, digital assistance systems could manage the access to the (online) world.
The assessment of this business model raises not only data protection issues, but also sociopolitical questions.