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Why Does My Remote Control Need to Know My Location?

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Re: Why Does My Remote Control Need to Know My Location?

#161

Post by reaperducer »

imglorp wrote: post #69
jfnixon wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um, no, that's not correct. SSIDs aren't tied to geographic location. The mothership might infer location by looking at the list of SSIDs and checking it against a geotagged list compiled by a mapper, but that's a completely different thing that saying if you let an app look for an SSID you are allowing to it to know your location. You might as well say that by giving a camera the ability to know the time, you are al…

SSID's pretty much ARE tied to geo, and those that aren't tied are easy to identify. The basic tech is known to both major players [1,2]. First you crowdsource as much of the data collection as you can: various apps can collect both SSID, BT, etc. sightings and report them with GPS. So you have a giant DB of locations vs network IDs. Then you tag any network ID which appears at differing locations: it's somehow mobil…

SSID's pretty much ARE tied to geo, and those that aren't tied are easy to identify.

I bring an AirMac (Apple Airport Express) with me to hotels when I travel. I guess this is why my Android phone gets so confused about where I am if it's in airplane mode with wifi enabled.

Re: Why Does My Remote Control Need to Know My Location?

#162

Post by Johnny555 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #146
Johnny555 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about a limited API that lets a program scan for a particular SSID - so it can look for a "PioneerSoundsystem" SSID, but it's much harder to scan for all SSID's. Still not perfect, since it can search for well-known SSID's like "StarbucksWifi" or "Comcast", but it limits the exposure - the API could have a limit on how many SSID's can be searched for by the app before you need to re-authorize it, so it can only s…

Why not just forward the SSID of any device matching that companies MAC, as a default, then allow customers to let an app access top-10, top-100, all, selected, etc., using normal permission requests.

manufacturer ID's in the MAC don't always match the branding on the hardware - some companies (especially smaller companies) use third-party hardware that has a MAC belonging to the component maker.

Re: Why Does My Remote Control Need to Know My Location?

#163

Post by auxbuss »

hedora wrote: post #78
derriz wrote: post #13

At least they acknowledged it, responded to the feedback and fixed it. Unfortunately I have a Sonos system which became effectively bricked unless I signed a new user agreement allowing the collection of data. There are no physical controls on Sonos so the system becomes useless without accepting. They used to sell dedicated controllers/remotes years ago but these were also bricked as part of an upgrade about a year…

Does anyone know of a good (from a privacy and usability perspective) alternative to Sonos? I plan to buy 5-6 of them sometime later this year, and for what that costs, they have no excuse to data-harvest me.

I've used Libratone [0] for years. Superb products. Excellent audio.

[0] https://www.libratone.com/

Re: Why Does My Remote Control Need to Know My Location?

#164

Post by georgebarnett »

hedora wrote: post #78
derriz wrote: post #13

At least they acknowledged it, responded to the feedback and fixed it. Unfortunately I have a Sonos system which became effectively bricked unless I signed a new user agreement allowing the collection of data. There are no physical controls on Sonos so the system becomes useless without accepting. They used to sell dedicated controllers/remotes years ago but these were also bricked as part of an upgrade about a year…

Does anyone know of a good (from a privacy and usability perspective) alternative to Sonos? I plan to buy 5-6 of them sometime later this year, and for what that costs, they have no excuse to data-harvest me.

You don’t mention which ecosystem you live in. I’m very happy with my Apple Homepods. The sound quality is great and I trust Apple with privacy. I don’t use Siri at all (I have disabled the microphone) and so for me they’re purely network speakers which are very easy to use and look after themselves with updates.

Re: Why Does My Remote Control Need to Know My Location?

#166

Post by quasse »

echelon wrote: post #87
TuringNYC wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found Dropbox to be notorious with this. Their business plan used to be only $150/yr (Fine Print: you pay minimum 3 seats.) That magically changed to five seats at some point and now the $150/yr suddenly shows up as $750/yr auto-renewed and almost impossible to cancel.

How is it impossible to cancel? Are cloud services becoming modern equivalents of gym memberships? Do you have to fax them?

The Adobe Cloud suite certainly is. It took me nearly an hour and a half on customer support to cancel my subscription after it autorenewed without my consent. They tried to charge me a full year of service as an early termination fee, as though they were a 90s cellphone carrier.

Protip for anyone else in this situation: The only way to make the cancellation happen without the fee is to repeat "I need to talk to your supervisor" to the drone on customer support, no matter what they try to tell you about not being able to waive the fee. They will never, ever connect you to a supervisor, but they will eventually waive the fee before hanging up on you.

Re: Why Does My Remote Control Need to Know My Location?

#167

Post by avh02 »

Fnoord wrote: post #114
illegalsmile wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there not an alternative to Dropbox that offers better service for the same if not lower cost? I understand that they could pull the same bait and switch on you but maybe there are providers who wouldn't do that or grandfather you in.

Host your own Nextcloud on a NAS, and have the most popular files synced? Be sure to make proper backups. On the short term, it will be expensive, but the investment will pay off. I'm also using Stack by TransIP. 1000 GB for 0 EUR/month, with e.g. offers of 1250 GB for 2,50 EUR/month. TransIP is by made by the same people as bunq (its Ali Niknam's first successful company)

Intention was to set up next cloud on a rock64 talking to my nas as backing store - but it turned out more difficult than I originally intended, might do it all on AWS instead - still not sure and didn't have time to try again

Re: Why Does My Remote Control Need to Know My Location?

#168

Post by distances »

periya wrote: post #120
derriz wrote: post #13

At least they acknowledged it, responded to the feedback and fixed it. Unfortunately I have a Sonos system which became effectively bricked unless I signed a new user agreement allowing the collection of data. There are no physical controls on Sonos so the system becomes useless without accepting. They used to sell dedicated controllers/remotes years ago but these were also bricked as part of an upgrade about a year…

I have been on the fence of buying a Sonos because I've always loved the sound quality but I could never bring myself to spend so much on them, your comment along with comments in this thread have made my decision easier. I'm going to stick with my dumb speakers and avoid all the hassle that comes with "smart" devices.

Building a dumb system will also provide a much better audio quality if you're willing to spend some time researching what to do. Plus it's of course more flexible as all parts are replaceable separately.

Re: Why Does My Remote Control Need to Know My Location?

#169

Post by MaxBarraclough »

Casseres wrote: post #62
derriz wrote: post #13

At least they acknowledged it, responded to the feedback and fixed it. Unfortunately I have a Sonos system which became effectively bricked unless I signed a new user agreement allowing the collection of data. There are no physical controls on Sonos so the system becomes useless without accepting. They used to sell dedicated controllers/remotes years ago but these were also bricked as part of an upgrade about a year…

> They used to sell dedicated controllers/remotes years ago but these were also bricked as part of an upgrade about a year or two ago. Would a class-action be successful in a situation like this?

Years back, Sony updated the PS3's software to remove the 'otherOS' feature (i.e. the ability to run Linux).

Apparently they lost the class action, but only paid out a couple months ago.

http://www.otherossettlement.com/

Re: Why Does My Remote Control Need to Know My Location?

#170

Post by e40 »

conesus wrote: post #97
e40 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask how it works to protect my data from Sonos? Don't they still get all the same data?

What you do with the remote is between you and what you control. I store anonymous metrics that I use to gauge usage levels but you can turn that off. Sonos undoubtedly takes your listening habits and profits off that data but Turn Touch does not, even though it has access to that data.

OK, I was wondering if you were a complete middleman between me and Sonos. I don't own one, but I would consider it if there were a way to keep their paws off my data.

Btw, this is a tough crowd, getting downvoted for a simple question like this. Sheesh.

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