Probably nothing surprising in the above. It's a fact of life.
It has long been known that Open systems are great except that the only really secure system is a closed one that is not connected to anything else.
Personally, the only devices I would recommend connecting to the Internet are PCs, and even then I'd suggest people ensure that the audio/video functionality is locked down (defeated) except when you want it on, and that you monitor which devices and MAC addresses are accessing the wifi or other modem/router. Whilst monitoring traffic, I once spotted what looked suspiciously like a router device emulation software sparking into brief life and then shutting down and becoming invisible. I took a snapshot of the Windows Explorer device window that it appeared in but could find little information about it on the web except that it seemed to come from a certain manufacturer.
I suspect that, post-Snowdengate, we can probably take it as read that, regardless of any protestations to the contrary, Big Corporates and Big Brother are shamelessly in cahoots and able to and will utilise all available technology to monitor all phone traffic, VOIP traffic, P2P traffic and email accounts and trading accounts (e.g., Amazon).
The terms "Privacy", "Confidentiality" and "Security" seem to have become somewhat meaningless, if not a joke.
