Privacy fears as Google and Amazon can use smart home data to learn your daily habits

Voice assistants made popular by Amazon and Google are seemingly everywhere in the home - from internet-connected refrigerators, to toilets and lightbulbs. They bring with them the benefit of convenience as a growing number of users can now complete everyday tasks, like locking their door or turning on the light, with just their voice. But the always-on nature of internet-connected devices has raised some concerns over just how much data these applications are collecting and what they're doing with it, according to Bloomberg. A woman is seen controlling her Philips Hue smart lightbulb with her voice assistant. Concerns have grown around how much data these applications are collecting and how it's being used In the past, if users asked Alexa to turn on their smart bulb, Alexa would transmit code to the device to check if it was on or off, receive confirmation that it was off and then tell it to turn on, Bloomberg noted.