Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Home Assistant blocked from integrating with Garage Door opener API

home-assistant.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 655 posts

Re: Home Assistant blocked from integrating with Garage Door opener API

#121

Post by Angostura »

a254613e wrote: post #90
TeMPOraL wrote: post #7

From company statement: > Our customers rely on us to make access simple without sacrificing quality and reliability. Unauthorized app integrations, stemming from only 0.2% of myQ users, previously accounted for more than half of the traffic to and from the myQ system, and at times constituted a substantial DDOS event that consumed high quantities of resources. Yeah, that sounds plausible, because: - Home Assistant u…

The main reason why HA accounted for so many requests is probably because it was a polling integration, requesting data every 30 seconds from the server, while the official app either had push events when something changes, or it updated state when the app gets opened.

Possible answers would be for the company to create an official integration, using a change state trigger rather than a polling trigger - or possibly to throttle requests from a particular IP to a certain number per day to incentivise parsimonious usage

Re: Home Assistant blocked from integrating with Garage Door opener API

#122

Post by bitshiftfaced »

PurpleRamen wrote: post #37
TeMPOraL wrote: post #7

From company statement: > Our customers rely on us to make access simple without sacrificing quality and reliability. Unauthorized app integrations, stemming from only 0.2% of myQ users, previously accounted for more than half of the traffic to and from the myQ system, and at times constituted a substantial DDOS event that consumed high quantities of resources. Yeah, that sounds plausible, because: - Home Assistant u…

> - Home Assistant users are power users, thus more likely to actually use the devices in question; >50% traffic from 0.2% of the users is far too big of a discrepancy to just explain it away with powerusers. Customers too have to follow a fair level of usage. > designed to discourage effective use (while maximizing data collection). What valuable data can they collect, if nobody is using it?

I think they want you to install their app so that you have to open the app everytime you press the button. From there, you see ads to other products.

Re: Home Assistant blocked from integrating with Garage Door opener API

#123

Post by lexh »

api wrote: post #25
TeMPOraL wrote: post #7

From company statement: > Our customers rely on us to make access simple without sacrificing quality and reliability. Unauthorized app integrations, stemming from only 0.2% of myQ users, previously accounted for more than half of the traffic to and from the myQ system, and at times constituted a substantial DDOS event that consumed high quantities of resources. Yeah, that sounds plausible, because: - Home Assistant u…

The problem is that these require some kind of server. Get one that just talks to HA over your local network. Why in the hell does a garage door opener need a server? Oh, data collection. And subscriptions. Nothing for the user. I avoid any home automation thing that has any cloud backing that's not strictly optional. It's a strong anti-feature. In home stuff cloud means it won't work when the Internet is down, it sp…

Oh, data collection. And subscriptions.

This makes sense (and myQ’s privacy policy is a nightmare: https://www.myq.com/privacy-notice) but I’ve never understood how this particular bit of data is valuable to anyone. Any ideas?

Re: Home Assistant blocked from integrating with Garage Door opener API

#124

Post by ur-whale »

lvh wrote: post #15

Based on my local big box store and garage installer availability, Chamberlain has a de facto monopoly. They also pulled the rug out from under customers: that behavior had been in Home Assistant since 2017, and it's their own recent changes that caused the alleged "DDoS". They say it's to promote official products, but the company previously had a local hub that didn't require their cloud service and discontinued it…

>The API breakage coincides pretty well with their brand new CTO

You can go and engage him directly on the topic, maybe he'll present a perspective we haven't seen, or maybe he'll listen to your arguments and reconsider:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-phillips-9a33831/

(and no, this is not doxing: his profile is public).

Re: Home Assistant blocked from integrating with Garage Door opener API

#127

Post by lvh »

a254613e wrote: post #90
TeMPOraL wrote: post #7

From company statement: > Our customers rely on us to make access simple without sacrificing quality and reliability. Unauthorized app integrations, stemming from only 0.2% of myQ users, previously accounted for more than half of the traffic to and from the myQ system, and at times constituted a substantial DDOS event that consumed high quantities of resources. Yeah, that sounds plausible, because: - Home Assistant u…

The main reason why HA accounted for so many requests is probably because it was a polling integration, requesting data every 30 seconds from the server, while the official app either had push events when something changes, or it updated state when the app gets opened.

A third-party hub would have a similar problem, though, right?

Re: Home Assistant blocked from integrating with Garage Door opener API

#128

Post by oskapt »

Something that I don’t see people talking about here is that MyQ is the core/required integration component for Amazon Key in-garage delivery, a service used by millions of people to have their packages delivered to their garages instead of having them stolen off their porch. That’s why it needs Internet access. All the talk about how Chamberlain will go bankrupt because a comparatively small number of tech people stop using the product is fluff. I ran into the MyQ API problem with Homebridge a couple weeks ago, and I bought a unit from Meross that integrates directly with Apple HomeKit. I still have the MyQ installed because I _need_ it for Amazon deliveries. Yes, all the fury about ads and user hostility and probable polling requiring extra resources with no recompense is correct and justified. But at the end of the day, Chamberlain doesn’t care if they piss us off. They get all their money from the same people who think their phone screen is _supposed_ to be covered in ads on every page they visit, and they likely get TONS of money from Amazon.

Re: Home Assistant blocked from integrating with Garage Door opener API

#130

Post by XorNot »

LOL. I have Chamberlain garage doors, and paid $30 for an Athom ESPhome preflash kit that includes a box, power supply and reed switches. Works great.

If there's one thing I'm dedicated to now, it's that all of these custom cloud IoT things are transient user hostile junk. If it's not open source and in my control, then it's not mine.

Post reply on HN