Wyze is a Chinese Company ( Discussion Continued)

Millions of Connected Cameras Open to Eavesdropping | Threatpost

This was brought up in another thread, Hopefully Wyze staff has a response to this.

I vote that, based on the evidence and lack of credible evidence to the contrary, that the title of this thread be changed to:
“Wyze is NOT a Chinese Company
(Discussion Continued ad infinitum)”

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It is NOT a Chinese owned company but, it is a company run by Chinese people

This is a video you might enjoy watching.

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Looks to me like a mixture of cultures which bodes well

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For those concerned about their privacy, I simply recommend reading the EULA and privacy statement of every company you do business with. For Wyze, it is found here:

https://wyze.com/ios-eula
https://wyze.com/android-eula

Some applicable excerpts:

3. CONSENT TO DATA PRACTICES; PRIVACY POLICY

Wyze may collect, use and share information about you, including, but not limited to, information about your use of the Licensed Application, Device, system and application software, and peripherals, that is gathered in connection with your access to and use of the Licensed Application. For information about how Wyze collects, uses and shares information about you in connection with your use of the Licensed Application, please refer to the Wyze Privacy Statement.

Sales of Personal Data: Wyze does not sell your personal information. We do allow third parties to collect certain device identifiers and internet and electronic network activity via our Services for advertising purposes. Please see the “Advertising and Analytics Services Provided by Others” section above for more details.

So they don’t sell our data, but they do share some of it (as do almost all companies if you read their privacy statements). Continuing with the Advertising section:

ADVERTISING AND ANALYTICS SERVICES PROVIDED BY OTHERS

We allow others to provide analytics services and serve advertisements for us across the web and in mobile applications. These entities may use cookies, web beacons, device identifiers and other technologies to collect information about your use of the Services and other websites and applications, including your IP address, web browser, mobile network information, pages viewed, time spent on pages or in apps, links clicked, and conversion information. This information may be used by Wyze and others to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, deliver advertising and content targeted to your interests on our Services and other websites and online services, and better understand your online activity. For more information about interest-based ads, or to opt out of having your web browsing information used for behavioral advertising purposes, please visit www.aboutads.info/choices.

You go to that site and you can opt out of a bunch of other third party cookies that have been tracking you.

Also, if it is that big of a deal, I recommend doing the following:

  1. Run everything through a Virtual OS
  2. Spoof your MAC Address
  3. Get a VPN that’s been tested against leaks (ie: Windscribe is the best IMO, and it will also do constant MAC and GPS spoofing if you want it to, and it has a free tier), & make sure your VPN doesn’t keep (let alone share/sell) logs
    • or at least use TOR if you want a free option (though TOR is terribly slow
    • Preferably run the VPN on the router itself so EVERYTHING is secure
    • Even better, don’t use your own internet anyway.
  4. Stop buying any devices that are cloud or internet dependent, switch to 100% local-only options (you’ll pay more, and it’s not as simple, but you’ll have some peace of mind).

Be prepared for all the insane annoyances that come from using VPNs or TOR. Lots of sites and apps think you’re a hacker or spammer and make you do all sorts of extra verification or simply ban you by default. I personally only use VPN’s when I go on public internet…any WiFi that is not owned and run by myself and only has trusted family and friends on it. Anywhere else, I use either Mobile Data, or turn on my VPN first to prevent anyone with bad intentions on the same network from exploiting my connection.

Or…get over it…that’s my personal suggestion. I personally don’t care about up to mildly moderate use of my data, especially anonymized and not selling my direct personal and security related info (not selling, means there is at least no financial incentive for them). Wyze isn’t SELLING our personal data, which is more than I can say for most companies. Wyze isn’t selling or giving away all our facial recognition data to law enforcement and the government like Amazon/Ring does, or access to our cams and doorbells without a court order like they do. Wyze was very emphatic in last year’s YouTube AMA that they will never pull an Amazon in sharing our video data with anyone like that. Not to mention Wyze’s Core company values and mission statement, which includes being friends with customers, and why they say they will never sell our important personal data like others do…I’ll take that small assurance over what Ring’s been doing to customers any day. But hey, nobody is stopping anyone else from switching to more invasive companies if they really want.

There is a new Youtube AMA this week, I guess someone can get on and ask them about their relationship to China and the Chinese government if it is so important to anyone still.

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This is kind of a pointless thread. If anyone thinks your data/streams are being sent back to China then why don’t you come with proof? Packet capturing your network traffic can’t be that far out of your wheelhouse if you are as privacy/security conscious as you try to show yourself to be.

If you don’t know how to get proof then learning that surely should be the priority over knee-jerk posts.

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I have an MYOB sticker wired to all my devices. I mash it each day to no effect. Almost but not quite over it. ‘Life’ goes on among ‘friends.’ :slight_smile:

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I love these WYZE threads. They are so much better than the narrow, shallow, GLP tripe. This is some of the better reading on the net, as I see it.

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People worried about what someone (in China , the U.S. or any other country), can see can simply unplug their cameras if they are concerned. They don’t need to justify their actions to anyone. But this thread reminds me of my brother’s concern about his Ring doorbell camera. His new wife said she didn’t like it, so he disconnected it. I don’t remember how the subject came up during a phone call, but he told me about it. He didn’t like my smart a$$ remark about it. What I said was, “hmm, worried about someone looking at video from your doorbell? Simply stop having sex on the front porch so there’s nothing interesting to see”. Click, and the line was dead.

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This was very interesting and informative, thank you for taking the time to write this.

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Your brother sounds like a party. :slight_smile:

I thought the thread was about the ownership, not necessarily about any compromising of personal data or video. The telemetry and ad profiling are real but I believe the video is safe.

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This made me laugh out loud :sweat_smile::laughing:

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Thanks for your reply. Mission accomplished. That’s all that I was going for.

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Looks like some people on here have been indoctrinated by the professional politicians and the media. Is there any place left online that hasn’t been infested by politics, hate and propaganda? Can we make this one site an exception? Could you please keep your toxic politics to yourself!

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I don’t really care if it is. Cameras are only on the outside of my apartment on my front porch. If the Chinese want to spy on my flowers, me smoking pot, or my neighbors kids playing in front of my place, they can have at it. If they want to spy on my motions around the house, when my door or windows open and close, they can enjoy themselves. I just get more embarrassed every day to be an American with all this paranoia where little people really think others care what is going on in their pathetic lives. You aren’t that important…

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@Sam_Bam Perhaps she said “Not without a ring!” …and he initially misunderstood what she meant.

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  1. If anyone is concerned whether Wyze is chinese owned and/or controlled by chinese government, you should report your findings to the FBI so our government can pull the plugs on Wyze just like they do to Huawei. If you are trying to be informative, than thank you and let everyone be their own judge. There is no point in trying to convince anyone in this forum one way or the other.

  2. If you are so seriously concerned about privacy, Replace all your Wyzecams with the good old handheld video recorders that use DAT or SD card for storage.

fooled

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