The House That Spied on Me • Hacker News Board

Re: The House That Spied on Me

#11

Post by mortenjorck » Sat, Feb 10, 2018, 2:07 PM UTC

Thriptic wrote: post #8

drdaeman wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with "smart" TVs is that infrequently there is no choice but to get those and try to minimize the damage. Despite all their advantages "dumb" TVs are getting less and less popular.

The TV still works if it's not connected to the internet. Just buy a smart TV, never connect it to the internet, and get third party streaming sticks instead.

I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point, the first time you turn on your new TV, you’re prompted with an unskippable “Create your Vizio account” screen or some such nastiness.

Re: The House That Spied on Me

#12

Post by germinalphrase » Sat, Feb 10, 2018, 2:19 PM UTC

drdaeman wrote: post #7

pc2g4d wrote: post #2

This was brilliant and disturbing. The legal implications are crazy---even if the owner of the house has agreed to the EULAs of all the devices, their visitors have not. Is their a legal obligation to notify visitors that data about them is being generated, collected, snooped through, and potentially sold? If people could be made more informed of what their devices are saying (and to whom) perhaps they'd be more relu…

> If people could be made more informed I'd really really really like to see some AR glasses that would somehow visualize all sorts of invisible things: radio traffic (incl. special indication of weak encryption and non-encrypted communications), ultrasound and infrared tags, location of detectable microphones and cameras - all sorts of things like this, whatever can be detected. Like, look at the smart TV and be awa…

It could make for a compelling video project - a la Keiichi Matsuda's "HYPER-REALITY"

Re: The House That Spied on Me

#13

Post by devmunchies » Sat, Feb 10, 2018, 2:24 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #4

> Almost every TV on the market now is connected—because otherwise how do you Netflix and chill? If you buy a "smart" TV, refuse to connect it to the internet and just get an Apple TV/Chromecast/whatever.

I tried to do this and just use my PS4 for apps, but my wife thoughtlessly accepted the TOS on the tv within 2 days.

We still don't use the apps on the tv though.

Re: The House That Spied on Me

#14

Post by bittermang » Sat, Feb 10, 2018, 2:31 PM UTC

mortenjorck wrote: post #11

Thriptic wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The TV still works if it's not connected to the internet. Just buy a smart TV, never connect it to the internet, and get third party streaming sticks instead.

I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point, the first time you turn on your new TV, you’re prompted with an unskippable “Create your Vizio account” screen or some such nastiness.

And that is the point when my entire foot will go through the screen.

I don't shop for TVs anymore. I buy really large monitors.

Re: The House That Spied on Me

#15

Post by germinalphrase » Sat, Feb 10, 2018, 2:31 PM UTC

fg8qfg8fg8 wrote: post #5

creep wrote: post #3

As annoying as the "smart homes are annoying" posts are becoming, I really enjoyed the format and the depth of this article. And I didn't know one could buy internet-connected vibrators. That's... odd. I also don't know why these folks were surprised their devices were constantly communicating to their home servers. My stance on the smart home and privacy phenomenon is optimistic. I think apple will eventually have a…

"everyone has the ability to watch everyone else" is it entirely symmetrical ?

It's also explicitly untrue. Very few people have regular access to my house; even fewer have access to the "private" domestic areas of my house. Losing this perception of privacyand safety can/does/will have real psychological impacts. It's also the cornerstone of psychological attacks - zersetzung - to lose control over your private life.

Re: The House That Spied on Me

#16

Post by bittermang » Sat, Feb 10, 2018, 2:34 PM UTC

z3t4 wrote: post #10

saagarjha wrote: post #4

> Almost every TV on the market now is connected—because otherwise how do you Netflix and chill? If you buy a "smart" TV, refuse to connect it to the internet and just get an Apple TV/Chromecast/whatever.

or use a white listing firewall where your data only goes to approved companies. but as you dont or do know how they use the info - its best to desolder any antennas or network interfase.

We need a concentrated effort to move solutions like Ghostery and Ad Block Plus up the chain, from the browser in to the router. And we need to make it user friendly and sexy.

And for what it's worth, I don't like in Ghostery, a plugin I run to try and stem the tide of tracking, how many times it begs me to send usage data and create an account. That's literally the opposite of why I downloaded you, Ghostery.

Re: The House That Spied on Me

#17

Post by arca_vorago » Sat, Feb 10, 2018, 2:45 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #4

> Almost every TV on the market now is connected—because otherwise how do you Netflix and chill? If you buy a "smart" TV, refuse to connect it to the internet and just get an Apple TV/Chromecast/whatever.

Yet when I try to tell people why copyleft ala GPLv3 that prevents tivoization is so important I get shouted out of the room.

I should have the ability to root and control the linux on my smarttv. Full stop. This is part of the problem. The same goes with things like phones. This is why both android and ios are NOT the mobile os of the future. They restrict the user from truly owning their device, and I'm fed up with this bullshit.

So remember that next time someone talks about how right Richard Stallman was right and gets downvoted to hell... HN is far too full of businesspeople pretending to be hackers instead of the other way around.

Re: The House That Spied on Me

#18

Post by bahjoite » Sat, Feb 10, 2018, 2:46 PM UTC

bittermang wrote: post #16

z3t4 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or use a white listing firewall where your data only goes to approved companies. but as you dont or do know how they use the info - its best to desolder any antennas or network interfase.

We need a concentrated effort to move solutions like Ghostery and Ad Block Plus up the chain, from the browser in to the router. And we need to make it user friendly and sexy. And for what it's worth, I don't like in Ghostery, a plugin I run to try and stem the tide of tracking, how many times it begs me to send usage data and create an account. That's literally the opposite of why I downloaded you, Ghostery.

Remove ghostery and install privacy badger instead https://www.eff.org/privacybadger

Re: The House That Spied on Me

#19

Post by jimrandomh » Sat, Feb 10, 2018, 2:55 PM UTC

drdaeman wrote: post #6

saagarjha wrote: post #4

> Almost every TV on the market now is connected—because otherwise how do you Netflix and chill? If you buy a "smart" TV, refuse to connect it to the internet and just get an Apple TV/Chromecast/whatever.

The problem with "smart" TVs is that infrequently there is no choice but to get those and try to minimize the damage. Despite all their advantages "dumb" TVs are getting less and less popular.

No, there's still plenty of them on the market; they're just marketed under the name "monitor" instead of "television".

Re: The House That Spied on Me

#20

Post by username223 » Sat, Feb 10, 2018, 3:00 PM UTC

creep wrote: post #3

As annoying as the "smart homes are annoying" posts are becoming, I really enjoyed the format and the depth of this article. And I didn't know one could buy internet-connected vibrators. That's... odd. I also don't know why these folks were surprised their devices were constantly communicating to their home servers. My stance on the smart home and privacy phenomenon is optimistic. I think apple will eventually have a…

> My stance on the smart home and privacy phenomenon is optimistic... Surveillance is unstoppable at this point, ...

This seems like a clear contradiction, unless your username is unironic. I'm basically pessimistic: surveillance is stoppable, but we probably won't, because we get free cat pictures, and Google has figured out that lobbying is the best thing it can do with its cash hoard. However, thanks to lazy idiots like Equifax, some people are slowly realizing that the surveillance economy may cost more than they want to pay. There are a few crumbs of hope for a positive outcome.