While TV is a medium you watch, the Internet is a medium that watches you, as you watch... For example, intelligence agencies—or anyone else, for that matter—can run a nifty little piece of malware called “Nosey Smurf” on your phone to listen in on everything going on all around you. And it’s not just phones. Internet-enabled devices—from Amazon’s Echo to your new toaster—can have “ears,” waiting for your command…or be used for more nefarious purposes. Snowden’s warnings presaged last year’s DDoS attack on DNS host Dyn that used connected devices like DVRs and even baby monitors to take down major sites like Twitter, Spotify and Amazon.
-Forbes