Samsung Galaxy Watch 3
Samsung
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Samsung bills this as, "the watch that watches out for you." This stylish, smart fitness watches watches you a lot. It will track your heart with an ECG to see if you have signs of Atrial Fibrillation. It monitors the amount of oxygen in your blood. It can even monitor to see if you've fallen and can't get up. All that plus a built-in running coach, Samsung Pay, and all the standard tracking of sleep, stress, steps, calories and more. Just beware, Samsung may also like to watch you too. The company collects and potentially sells your personal health data to consumer data resellers.
What could happen if something goes wrong?
This device tracks your location, heart rate, sleep patterns, stress and more. That's a lot of personal information gathered in one place. And Samsung says they may share your data with business affiliates who make predictions about your interests and target you with ads. That means it's possible you could get have crazy insomnia and sleep terribly for a couple months, Samsung could know that and share that data with someone who will target you with ads for sleeping pills everywhere you go. You try the sleeping pills out, get addicted, and end up needing rehab. OK, this is probably not likely, but also not impossible in our digital ad economy.
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: No
App: No
Microphone
Device: Yes
App: No
Tracks location
Device: Yes
App: Yes
What can be used to sign up?
No
Phone
No
Third-party account
No
What data does the company collect?
Personal
Name, email, phone number, date of birth, gender
Body related
Heart rate, movement, sleep data, stress, blood oxygen levels, menstrual cycle, and more. Voice recordings if you use voice commands
Social
How does the company use this data?
How can you control your data?
What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?
In February, 2020, Samsung had a data breach on it UK customer account pages, effecting less than 150 people.
Can this product be used offline?
User-friendly privacy information?
Links to privacy information
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Uses encryption in transit and at rest.
Strong password
Security updates
Manages vulnerabilities
Samsung has a bug bounty program, which means that anyone who finds a security issue and discloses it responsibly may get paid. https://security.samsungmobile.com/rewardsProgram.smsb
Privacy policy
Samsung has a page highlighting it's privacy principles
Does the product use AI?
Is this AI untrustworthy?
What kind of decisions does the AI make about you or for you?
Is the company transparent about how the AI works?
Does the user have control over the AI features?
Dive Deeper
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Samsung cops to data leak after unsolicited '1/1' Find my Mobile push notificationThe Register
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