Julia Starzyk is an extremely organised and immaculately presented woman who likes things 'just so'.

Which means that her detached house in Harefield, in the suburban reaches of west London, is perfectly finished, breathtakingly clean and ordered. The windows gleam, the loo paper is folded over at the end in an intricate bow. 

Even her dog Susan looks like she's just stepped out of the salon after a wash and set.

And that's just the start of it.

Because every inch of Julia's home is also serviced by the biggest collection of smart gadgets I have ever seen.

Everything from her central heating, lights and underfloor heating to security cameras, coffeemaker, air fryer, doorbell, garden watering system, fitness trackers and interactive speakers are connected to the internet.

She even has smart air-freshening light bulbs; and not one, but two, robot-dog friends to keep little Susan company when Julia is out at work and spit out little treats for her every now and then.

'The doggy robot was my first gadget, but I love smart tech and so I've added to them over the past eight years,' says Julia, 36. 'Because I like to feel in control. I like to be organised. I like to feel safe and secure. This is my haven. My safe place and I love it here, and I'm very private and I don't invite many people in.'

But I'm sorry to say that Julia's home is anything but private. Far from it. In fact, she's quite possibly the most watched, monitored and spied on woman in Britain.

Not by her neighbours. Or by industry competitors trying to find out the secrets to her top-end home renovation business. Or even MI5.

No, the irony is that Julia, and fluffy Susan, are being monitored by her many, many gadgets.

All of which gather information – via a mix of inbuilt cameras, voice-activated recorders, and movement sensors – harvest it, and in many cases, sell it on. To other companies, bots, and, yes, China.

Which means that data from their daily routine – the chips they're air-frying for tea, the TV shows they watch in the evening, their conversations, even their bedtime routines – could be being spied on and analysed thousands of miles away.

Julia is far from alone. Yesterday an independent researcher, known only as @log4j online, claimed to have hacked the privacy system on their Samsung television to find that the device was spying on them. 

The hacker found an in-built microphone – using a technology known as automatic content recognition (ACR) – was being used to track background noises such as cries from a baby or a dog barking to sell information about a user for targeted advertising.

Alarmingly, @log4j found that if the television did not have a microphone, it was programmed to find another device, such as a speaker, to connect to via Bluetooth to collect data.

As Andrew Laughlin, principal researcher at Which?, specialising in cyber security and data privacy, puts it: 'Over the past decade, the smart tech revolution has crept up on us without anyone really stopping to think, and maybe ask, 'Gosh, do I want someone to know that I have chicken nuggets four times a week and what time I go to bed and get up?'

Or, for that matter, to wonder why all the traditional 'dumb' appliances we used to just switch on and operate with our hands – washing machines, heating, coffee machines, hoovers – now require an app and access to the internet. And, as a result, leave our smart phones, and all the rest of our information, vulnerable to hackers.

'Every app opens up a route into your internet, which brings in a company (or companies), all gathering information and quite possibly selling it on,' says Laughlin. 'Because information is very valuable.'

But back in her cosy sitting room in Harefield, Julia insists that her tech makes her feel more in control.

'I know what's going on at all times in my house. I like being able to control it from my phone.'

All of it. The heating, the outdoor watering system, the doggy robot and security cameras that track Susan's every move, the Chinese air fryer that she bought from Lidl.

She adores how her lounge is automatically lit with 'mood lighting' at exactly 6pm every day, the bulbs know what time she goes to bed and, later, pops to the loo in the night.

'I love that the moment I put my foot out of bed and on the floor, a light comes on. And then little lights come on all the way to the loo and back,' she says. 'It's brilliant!'

Julia is not stupid. She is a highly accomplished and hard-working woman who assures me she is well aware of how smart devices work.

'I know there's a risk. We give up a bit of information. But it's a balance.'

And, of course, she is right. Much of the information gathered from customers is to make the product behave better.

So a smart TV gathers information about your preferences. And a smart heating system knows when you're home, when you're on holiday, and how warm and cosy you like it.

But why does a washing machine or an air fryer need our date of birth? Or to access our contacts on our phone, or track our movements?

'There is a lack of transparency,' says Laughlin. 'When we buy a product, we pay for it. But here we're paying a second time with our data.'

Even Julia admits that she has too many apps for all her different smart gadgets.

'I got it all to make my life more streamlined, but it could be a lot more user-friendly.'

And it turns out that some of her smart purchases weren't quite so smart, after all.

'The coffee maker was hopeless – you had to work out exactly what time you wanted coffee in the morning,' she says. 'It turned out I liked making myself a coffee.'

The robot hoover couldn't cope with the stairs, or even the teeny ledge down to Julia's relaxation room, off the sitting room.

And, of course, with this sort of reliance on tech, if the internet goes down, everything grinds to a halt.

'It feels like the end of days. We can't even turn the lights on.'

But we're getting side-tracked. What about all the information gathering, the spying?

Like the story of the rogue robot hoover that took a photo of its owner on the loo and posted it on social media. And the sextortion cases, where personal and private photos are hacked and used for blackmail.

But the thing that seems to give most of us the willies, is the targeted ads we receive on social media.

We all know that within hours – sometimes minutes – of discussing something, perhaps a Portuguese villa holiday, or new TV, or a Fair Isle knitted snood, we're inundated with offers on our social media for this exact item.

Are our smart speakers really listening to us that closely, as hacker @log4j claims?

Laughlin says maybe not. 'Usually the tech is so good, our digital footprint is so huge and the predictive energies are so wide, that they can work out what we're going to search for next.'

Really – all those coincidences?

Here, he answers carefully. 'There is no hard evidence that we are being monitored,' he says. 'But as they are constantly listening out for an order it's not a bad idea to keep them out of the bedroom. Or anywhere sensitive. And be curious – try to understand how they work a bit better.'

Julia is quick to admit that she did not study any of the terms and conditions on her gadgets.

'No one reads the terms and conditions,' says Laughlin. 'I have to read them and they're very boring. So most people just click 'accept' and get going.'

But even if we did pore over them, we wouldn't be much wiser. They are notoriously vague.

And the law is woefully slack when it comes to tech. Neither the 2022 Product Security and Telecoms Infrastructure Act, or the new code of practice, introduced last year, have any real teeth.

Perhaps, unsurprisingly, Laughlin has stripped almost all smart items from his home – 'I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly,' he says. But he understands that most of us will not. And should not.

But we must be more alert to the dangers and arm ourselves with a few simple precautions.

Such as never use the 'default' passwords automatically suggested – or the same password for multiple gadgets. Always do the security updates and two factor authentications. 

Think before you put gadgets with cameras or voice-activated recording devices like Alexas in sensitive areas, like the bedroom, unless, well, you're happy to share. 

Delete history on those home devices. And only buy brands you recognise, not cheap Chinese knock offs, that may leave you more exposed to data harvesting.

But also, be alert to the possibility that your smart gadget could be compromised – hacked into and taken over at any moment.

Tell-tale signs include odd behaviour – items moving of their own accord. Making strange noises. Batteries draining quickly. And not being able to access an app.

All of which is enough for me to make a mental note to relegate my Alexa to the cellar the minute I get home.

'I might be the most spied on woman in Britain, but I don't care,' Julia laughs. 'If someone wants to listen to me snore in bed, they're very welcome! I have nothing to hide.'