Ask HN: How can a startup in home security gain trust from users?

#1

Post by anh_n » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 2:30 PM UTC

Hi all, we are working on a software for home security use cases like human detection or facial recognition. We focus on privacy and process all the video offline on-device. But there is a problem: livestreaming is almost a must-have feature for this software. But livestreaming requires a server for routing. Up until now our software works without a server, but the user can only view livestream on a local Wi-Fi network.

I read many threads on HN and see that many peoples are concerned if their video footage is streamed over the internet. So the question is: How can we gain trust from the user that we do not collect any of their data?

Re: Ask HN: How can a startup in home security gain trust from users?

#2

Post by smt88 » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 4:00 PM UTC

You can't prove that you don't collect data. Even an external code audit is not a guarantee.

You could offer a Docker image to left people self-host, you could stream through a different encrypted channel (like some E2E messenger that people trust), or you could just give up trying to prove anything.

The vast majority of users won't care about privacy enough, and the ones who care will be able to run their own image.

Re: Ask HN: How can a startup in home security gain trust from users?

#3

Post by anh_n » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 7:23 PM UTC

smt88 wrote: post #2

You can't prove that you don't collect data. Even an external code audit is not a guarantee. You could offer a Docker image to left people self-host, you could stream through a different encrypted channel (like some E2E messenger that people trust), or you could just give up trying to prove anything. The vast majority of users won't care about privacy enough, and the ones who care will be able to run their own image.

I am not sure if most of those people who care about privacy is also technically able to self host a server. But this maybe an option too.

Re: Ask HN: How can a startup in home security gain trust from users?

#4

Post by smt88 » Sun, Apr 25, 2021, 2:51 AM UTC

anh_n wrote: post #3

smt88 wrote: post #2

You can't prove that you don't collect data. Even an external code audit is not a guarantee. You could offer a Docker image to left people self-host, you could stream through a different encrypted channel (like some E2E messenger that people trust), or you could just give up trying to prove anything. The vast majority of users won't care about privacy enough, and the ones who care will be able to run their own image.

I am not sure if most of those people who care about privacy is also technically able to self host a server. But this maybe an option too.

Caring about privacy requires hosting a server. Or they can just give up on remote viewing.

They don't need to self-host really anyway. There are lots of one-click Docker image hosting options in various clouds.