Joe Biden is now the President of the United States of America, and what are the papers talking about?
His internet-connected Peloton exercise bike.
The concern doesn’t appear to be that some Blofeld-type villain might remotely hijack the device and sign the septuagenrian up for a heart-exerting powerzone ride whilst blaring out hits from “The Greatest Showman.”
Instead, the primary worry appears to be that Peloton exercise bikes come with a built-in camera and microphone. No, I don’t understand why anyone sweating buckets and gasping for breath as they complete their spin class would want to (or even be able to) have a video chat with their fellow riders, but apparently it’s possible.
But it’s also a privacy threat that’s not impossible to fix. Just like you can cover the webcam of your laptop with a sticky note or some gaffa tape, you can do the same with the camera on your Peloton exercise bike.
Microphones are a little trickier to physically disable. Unlike your laptop, there’s no 3.5mm jack on a Peloton bike for an external device, meaning you can’t plug it with an adapter to trick the device into thinking there is an alternative microphone plugged in.
You could, I suppose, identify where the microphone is and “bandage” it up with tape and wadding to muffle any recordings it might potentially make – but that’s hardly ideal.
My guess is that President Biden may be able to get the same treatment that apparently was meted out for former first lady Michelle Obama.
According to a ..
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