I recently installed a Chinese-made washing machine in my house. When I bought it, it came with a $100 cashback offer. After installation, it came time to claim

I recently installed a Chinese-made washing machine in my house. When I bought it, it came with a $100 cashback offer. After installation, it came time to claim that $100, I went to the website, and to my amazement, I had to give up quite a bit of personal information, certainly more than you would expect for the purposes of a washing machine. This information was submitted via a form directly to a Chinese company. So I’m convinced they used the cashback offer as a façade to gather my personal details, to link my ID up to whatever they’re recording from me in my house through the machine. So now I occasionally say things directly to the machine, with the expectation that the Chinese government is listening.