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Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

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Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#181

I have a semi-related anecdote about surprises from devices. I use a CPAP. After a year, I went back to the doctor for a followup, and was asked to bring the SD card so they could review the data it collects. The device records the times and duration of use, various settings, and some metrics on breathing (apnea events, etc). I knew it recorded this stuff on an SD card. I brought the card to the appointment, but the…

I agree that this is both invasive and a huge violation.

My wife had pretty severe sleep apnea in the third trimester of her pregnancy, two experiences that make me think this practice needs to be nuked from orbit.

1. We properly read the manual for the device and adjusted the pressure so that it didn't cause problems with burping/ingesting air during sleep. Tissue gets softer in women as they near birth and the body releases a whole host of different hormones - one that gets softer is the pharynx which keeps air out of the stomach as you breathe.

After three days - They had the gall to call and inform us that they had noted the change and reset our settings. We had been tracking sleep events on the device ourselves and they hadn't changed (still ~1 per hour while using, the same as the original pressure setting) so there was zero reason for them to do this.

2. After she gave birth, her sleep apnea essentially disappeared (at it's worst it was ~40 events an hour, 3 weeks after birth it was essentially just light snoring again). Did not matter at all - They insisted she use the machine still. Called repeatedly and harassed us.

---

It took written revocation of their rights to treat us, and then the threat of a lawsuit before the calls stopped.

This needs to be illegal - NOW.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#182
post #132

I was sort of shocked when I went to buy some gizmo for my car on Amazon and it told me that this particular one will not fit my particular car make and model. Other than whatever is required by law I never told any company about what car if any I own.

Unlikely but could be possible by using license plate and owner information in some countries where it is (or was) public information.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#183

I recently bought a 32" 4K monitor. Two different models were at at that point inexpensive enough to tempt me. A smart one, and different brand, dumb one for $50 more. I bought the latter. I'm happy. The market decides, right? What is actually happening here? 1. Most people actually like this overdone gimmickry? 2. Most people think they will like it, buy it and then get sick of it? Thus people like me, who seek out…

I would like to buy a smart scale because I think the data it provides would be really useful to me. So in my case the smart gimmick really is the feature I want. Unfortunately I price my weight data very differently than they do, so unless they pay me multiple tens of thousands of dollars I would not agree for it to send the data it collect. Unfortunately there is no such smart scale. So I would add to your list a 5…

https://github.com/oliexdev/openScale/wiki/Supported-scales-...

(Not that it detracts from your point about the market).

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> can't have lidars and map your home (while I can see no reason why this has to require Internet access and can't be implemented an autonomous way). This is a great comment. I would love smart appliances (e.g. Lidar-equipped robot vacuum cleaner) that are 100% offline. If anyone has a list of smart yet offline appliances, I’d love to shop there.

> I’d love to shop there. If I had enough time and money I would start a company specializing in just this: home and office hardware (from kitchen appliances to smartphones and players) designed with care and focus on offline-friendliness, autonomousness, durability, ease of repair, configurability, hackability, upgradability and privacy without compromise in features and the UX. I believe the potential market, altho…

I would add to that the option to 'self-host' the smart bits. Why have 10 computers idling all the time if you can have 1 computer in use most of the time. This obviously adds complexity (you either need a compute module, or a module that connects to your PC), but it would be nice for a customer to just buy one or the other pre-packaged, and it also improves the repairability.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#185

I have a semi-related anecdote about surprises from devices. I use a CPAP. After a year, I went back to the doctor for a followup, and was asked to bring the SD card so they could review the data it collects. The device records the times and duration of use, various settings, and some metrics on breathing (apnea events, etc). I knew it recorded this stuff on an SD card. I brought the card to the appointment, but the…

She said that if I disabled it, insurance would refuse coverage.

This is true.

That's how i found out that one of my medical devices has s cellular modem: I got a letter from the DME company saying that if i didn't use it more hours, my insurance would refuse to cover it and I'd have to pay the balance.

Where i lived, i had terrible cellular service, so i had to get an exemption from the insurance company and make sure to bring the SD card to my doctor quarterly to ensure the insurance company would continue to pay for it.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#186

I have a semi-related anecdote about surprises from devices. I use a CPAP. After a year, I went back to the doctor for a followup, and was asked to bring the SD card so they could review the data it collects. The device records the times and duration of use, various settings, and some metrics on breathing (apnea events, etc). I knew it recorded this stuff on an SD card. I brought the card to the appointment, but the…

I was told about the cellular connection by my respiratory therapist. Mine even has an app that has achievements for proper and continuous usage. It also goes into pretty good detail about what you're screwing up if you aren't getting good mask seal. Even got a call from my therapist after two weeks following up with me about the data he received.

AFAIK this is what home medical equipment seems to be moving too. My dad's external pacemaker had a base station that phoned home over cellular as well.

If I wasn't wholly depended on the device I'd be very interested in poking around inside of it. I'd be very interested in learning what it's collecting, and maybe someone living in a area with laws allowing users to request their data should follow up with them.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#187
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are people who would benefit from this reminder. They, however, tend to not drive Renaults, but Audis and BMWs. I've had this game with my wife while driving somewhere for the last 10 years. I see someone doing a dangerous pass, driving (way) too fast, cutting someone off too quickly, tailgating, etc, etc, etc, and before I can tell the brand/model, I tell my wife "It's one of those again" (and I would also i…

Drove today in a 20 kph zone. Was just dragging behind a BMW that was going nicely within the speed limit. It was so uncharacteristic that I thought: man, it won't end well. Such things don't just happen. He's gonna do something . A moment later the BMW turned left without blinking. Well. At least I knew I wasn't dreaming it. The world was back to how I knew it.

I witnessed a similar thing today, I was the first car in front of a black BMW for over 20 kilometers on twisty country roads. There was a young man behind the wheel and he gave me lots of space when I was turning onto the road on a busy intersection, was keeping his distance, never looked down at his phone AFAIK, and it felt really nice not to be expecting to be hit from behind at any moment.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what exactly is a "smart" monitor? I'm familiar with smart TVs, but I can't see how any of those features could be useful in a screen that I plug directly into a computer.

The advantage is that the monitor provides the sort of usage data the company can sell to others. To be clear, it's not an advantage to you .

Could you give some concrete examples of the types of data that an existing smart monitor (not a TV) collects and sells to others? (Ideally also naming the manufacture and the device.)

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#189

I have a semi-related anecdote about surprises from devices. I use a CPAP. After a year, I went back to the doctor for a followup, and was asked to bring the SD card so they could review the data it collects. The device records the times and duration of use, various settings, and some metrics on breathing (apnea events, etc). I knew it recorded this stuff on an SD card. I brought the card to the appointment, but the…

In this case I'm on the fence.

Say you are not breathing, and the machine is working, but not up to manufacture's specs. They have the data. They should inform you of a malfunctioning machine? Since they have the data, it's incumbent on them to inform you of the state of the malfunctioning cpac machine?

If they don't get back informing you of a faulty machine, a lawyer could subpoena those cell phone records/data? And maybe have a case?

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#190
post #170

I have a semi-related anecdote about surprises from devices. I use a CPAP. After a year, I went back to the doctor for a followup, and was asked to bring the SD card so they could review the data it collects. The device records the times and duration of use, various settings, and some metrics on breathing (apnea events, etc). I knew it recorded this stuff on an SD card. I brought the card to the appointment, but the…

I don't know anything about the laws here - but isn't this medical data? Doesn't HIPAA make this sort of stuff illegal?

HIPAA doesn't prohibit the collection and sharing of health data. It provides a framework for how such activities must be performed, describes standards and practices for data security, limits whom the data can be shared with, and, yes, requires certain disclosures. But there's no HIPAA violation if your doctor, medical equipment provider/manufacturer, and insurance company share data within those parameters.

I'm sure I signed something authorizing it, in the giant stack of paperwork I filled out along the way, but who reads every word of that nonsense? It's practically designed to overwhelm the patient. I read a lot more of those forms than anyone else I know, but I still have to skim a lot and they're always presented in a high-anxiety environment. No one can or should be expected to pay that much attention to legalese in a doctor's office.

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