Science & Technology

Amazon wants to use radar to track your sleep

By T.K. Randall
July 12, 2021

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Smart hub devices, which are often equipped with cameras and microphones, have long been the subject of privacy concerns and with good reason - not only are these devices watching and listening, but they are also recording footage and audio of what you are doing and storing it on remote servers.

For some, even an easily accessible mute button and the option to delete data from the server is not enough to justify having one of these devices around, yet it seems that companies like Google and Amazon are continuing to double down on the level of surveillance these devices are capable of by adding increasingly sensitive microphones and even entirely new types of sensor.

The latest addition is radar - something that has already made its way onto the latest Google Nest Hub smart display and now Amazon is looking for approval to add it to its next 'Echo' device as well.

The purpose of this functionality is to monitor the user's sleep patterns, however concerns have been raised over exactly what else a radar device in a person's home is capable of doing."The use of Radar Sensors in sleep tracking could improve awareness and management of sleep hygiene, which in turn could produce significant health benefits for many Americans," Amazon's FCC filing reads.

"Radar Sensors will allow consumers to recognize potential sleep issues."

It goes without saying, however, that a device in every room of your house equipped with microphones, cameras and radar has the potential to be incredibly intrusive.

Source: Tech Radar

Tags: Amazon, Google