These are all great tips, but most consumers aren't interested and/or don't have the skills to properly evaluate all the permissions and data gathering a device or app may be doing. And checking with the vendor isn't going to help because most vendors are not going to fully disclose all the info they are collecting. If they came out and told you everything they were collecting and how long they planned to retain it and what they might do with it, you would never buy the device or app. There isn't a lot of differentiation amount products based on the data collection side of it, because consumers don't demand it.