Vacuum bricked after user blocks data collection – user mods it to run anyway
1–10 of 174 posts
Re: Vacuum bricked after user blocks data collection – user mods it to run anyway
#2[flagged]
Re: Vacuum bricked after user blocks data collection – user mods it to run anyway
#3[flagged]
The business has no right to remotely kill a device purchased by an end user.
Re: Vacuum bricked after user blocks data collection – user mods it to run anyway
#4I wish I had the abilities of the engineer, plus the time he could devote to the problem.
Re: Vacuum bricked after user blocks data collection – user mods it to run anyway
#5[flagged]
> Why would they not be homogenous?
Why would a business have the power to decide what should and what shouldn't be homogeneous about the property of others? A transaction took place, property has legally changed hands and the former owner is exerting control over property that isn't theirs any more.
How about if the builder of your house comes into your home via an access route unknown to you, and starts rearranging where things are placed, or where you and your wife are placed, etc. in order to maintain homogeneous layout?
Re: Vacuum bricked after user blocks data collection – user mods it to run anyway
#6I block this nonsense before it gets to the cash register.
Re: Vacuum bricked after user blocks data collection – user mods it to run anyway
#7[flagged]
The owner did not hack the vacuum, he blocked the IP address on his network for the telemetry server. Same thing tons of people do with Pi-Hole DNS blocking, for example.
There's no sane world where it is defensible to remotely brick a device because it can't communicate with a telemetry server.
Re: Vacuum bricked after user blocks data collection – user mods it to run anyway
#8Re: Vacuum bricked after user blocks data collection – user mods it to run anyway
#9I wish I had the abilities of the engineer, plus the time he could devote to the problem.
There is a significantly easier option (although still more work than just buying a vacuum and using it as the manufacturer intended): get one of the Valetudo supported vacuums[0]. This firmware replacement blocks telemetry and allows for near complete feature parity with the original firmware, and flashing is (usually) relatively simple. Certainly much simpler than the process described here.
[0] https://valetudo.cloud/pages/general/supported-robots.html
Re: Vacuum bricked after user blocks data collection – user mods it to run anyway
#10I wish I had the abilities of the engineer, plus the time he could devote to the problem.
Thankful for people like this - with kids and family and work I’d probably have had this sit bricked for a year in my garage before finding time to tinker with it. Now I can just never buy any iLife product ever.
We should probably update this story to link directly to the hackers blog, they deserve the credit! https://codetiger.github.io/blog/the-day-my-smart-vacuum-tur...