Did I say it?  Did I say early last year when these gadgets first came out that they were a horrible idea?  Did I say 10 year ago that baby monitors were a horrible idea?  Did I say "home security" and "smart meters" (actually smart things of any kind) were a bad, bad, bad idea?

Yip.  I think I did, all right.  Not to gloat but I was right about it, as proven recently by an Echo device which "spied" on a family in Oregon and sent their PRIVATE conversations to someone at a waaaaaaay different location. 

Here's my advice:  If you don't own one of those stupid devices, don't buy one.  If you own smart appliances, which is sometimes all you can get these days and that's a damned shame, just be aware that they certainly, most certainly, are spying on more than just your useage, much like the excuse the power companies use for installing those stupid smart meters.  They say it's to monitor your electricity useage - - that is pure unadulterated horseshit.

America is now a spy machine and we'll all have to learn to live with it.  But it's one thing for companies to spy on you (whatever they have to gain, I have no idea) and it's quite another for personal private conversations to be spurting around the airwaves.

It's disgraceful and if there's a way to undo all of this we better figure it out fast.  We used to make jokes that pretty soon everyone would know what color underwear you have on every day - - - that's no longer a joke.  NOTHING is private.