Live data from Hacker News

Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

nytimes.com

1–10 of 115 posts

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#2
I mean, any security camera that does anything with the cloud should never make it onto a recommendation list in the first place.

I'm not sure if the product exists, but something that replicates a homemade setup would be amazing.

Think of a bundled camera(s) + raspberry pi + 1tb backup drive or whatever that you can only access over your own dedicated personal wireguard vpn (or tailscale, something like that), but sold as a retail bundle.

Of course, that would cut out all the SaaS/app data selling aspect so it seems unlikely to happen.

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#4
post #2

I mean, any security camera that does anything with the cloud should never make it onto a recommendation list in the first place. I'm not sure if the product exists, but something that replicates a homemade setup would be amazing. Think of a bundled camera(s) + raspberry pi + 1tb backup drive or whatever that you can only access over your own dedicated personal wireguard vpn (or tailscale, something like that), but s…

An IP camera that requires the customer to set-up and secure outside access themselves will not sell to end users. The market is just too small and anyone who has the skills to secure this stuff themselves doesn't have to rely on a consumer grade product.

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#5
post #2

I mean, any security camera that does anything with the cloud should never make it onto a recommendation list in the first place. I'm not sure if the product exists, but something that replicates a homemade setup would be amazing. Think of a bundled camera(s) + raspberry pi + 1tb backup drive or whatever that you can only access over your own dedicated personal wireguard vpn (or tailscale, something like that), but s…

That's the architecture of Ubiquiti Protect: https://blog.ui.com/2019/01/09/introducing-unifi-protect/

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#6
post #2

I mean, any security camera that does anything with the cloud should never make it onto a recommendation list in the first place. I'm not sure if the product exists, but something that replicates a homemade setup would be amazing. Think of a bundled camera(s) + raspberry pi + 1tb backup drive or whatever that you can only access over your own dedicated personal wireguard vpn (or tailscale, something like that), but s…

The market for a product that requires the buyer to setup a VPN is not going to be very large. You seriously overestimate the average tech competence of people. It needs to be something you just plug in and it works.

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#7
post #2

I mean, any security camera that does anything with the cloud should never make it onto a recommendation list in the first place. I'm not sure if the product exists, but something that replicates a homemade setup would be amazing. Think of a bundled camera(s) + raspberry pi + 1tb backup drive or whatever that you can only access over your own dedicated personal wireguard vpn (or tailscale, something like that), but s…

I consider offsite storage a must-have feature for surveillance equipment, because one of the prime threats is that the thieves carry off the surveillance equipment itself. With modern WiFi cameras without mounting wires and cheap plastic mounting points, that's real easy, and if you had a physical server to store the recordings it would be a target as well; the history of surveillance systems is littered with examples of "The thieves stole the tapes, too".

Finding someone trustworthy enough to store your offsite footage, though, is a real problem. If only there were some sort of union of peoples capable of causing consequences for companies that act as poor stewards of data.

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#8
> The fundamental relationship between smart-home companies and their customers is founded on trust.

Sadly, very few companies are trustworthy.

Not all of them are evil; wanting to get into their users' data; many are just cheap and lazy. They don't want to spend money on the types of employees and process that will result in trustworthy kit.

It's actually not hard to understand (less easy to forgive). The device market is crazy cutthroat. Margins are razor-thin, support costs can be high, and competition (especially with nation-state-funded competitors) is savage.

But I don't know how many times I have had one of my friends proudly whip out their smartphone, showing me live video of their kids playing at home, not realizing that their ultra-secure password ("fuckyouhacker") is no impediment to lots of others, getting the same feed.

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#9
>>On September 8, 2023, The Verge reported an incident in which some Wyze customers were able to access live video from other users’ cameras through the Wyze web portal.an unintentional, adult, video shareing platform, sounds like something a sector of society would consider a feature.
Post reply on HN