Amazon was one of the third-parties contacted by about half of the devices tested by researchers at Northeastern.

"Amazon is contacted by almost half the devices in our tests, which stands out because [this means] Amazon can infer a lot of information about what you’re doing with different devices in your home, including those they don’t manufacture," said David Choffnes, computer scientist at Northeastern University and one of the paper’s authors. "They also can have a lot of visibility into what their competitors are doing."

Since most of the data shared by the devices were encrypted, researchers couldn’t tell exactly what was being transmitted, in some cases.

"They can definitely see some [viewing] is taking place, but what they can exactly see depends on what the manufacturer is sending, which we have not made an attempt to re-engineer," said Hamed Haddadi, computer scientist at Imperial College and another paper author.

But experts warn: There’s "minimal oversight" regarding these smart devices. As one analyst warned, "the situation is dire."

Buyer beware.