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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

#221

Post by dylan604 »

ggsp wrote: post #164
caymanjim wrote: post #140

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…

> no one is monitoring diet, exercise, drug use, cigarette consumption, or other risky behaviors, and threatening to withhold treatment for non-compliance ... yet.

That you know of. All of this data is collected and made available if you are paying for things with a card. Hypothetically, insurance carriers could be seeing exactly what you buy, from where, and how often. If you have a gym membership (as shady as gyms are, it would not surprise me to learn they not only provide membership but attendance records as well), they can glean if you are active. blah blah, metadata is innocent.

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

#222

Post by macksd »

colechristensen wrote: post #208
crote wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 enables and restricts data collection, storage, and sharing but in general you consented to it. A current problem with HIPAA is that the consent forms do not clearly enough describe what is being agreed to such that someone can’t make an informed decision and there really isn’t an option to say “no” to things and still receive care without going somewhere else. HIPAA also does not require consent to sharing “de…

Consent in a medical context honestly means nothing to me anymore. Do you know how many times I've been asked to sign an electronic pad without seeing what I'm signing, asked for the form beforehand, and be told they can't give it to me until I sign it? It's absurd. They just collect an image of your signature and apply it to whatever they want. They will eventually cave if you make a big enough fuss, but unless you're Richard Stallman, no one is going to keep doing that every time.

edit: My hack in this case is now to legibly write "Can't see form" as my signature. No one has called me on it yet but I'm dying for the next disputed bill.

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

#224

Post by drewg123 »

SkeuomorphicBee wrote: post #142
teekert wrote: post #2

It should also have an arm on the door to slap your hand when you open it for the 41st time in a day. I mean, that's insane, you deserve a slap. Btw, this reminds me a bit of my parent's Renault that would tell me every damn time I started it to follow traffic regulations. I wish I could slap that car and it would feel it. And then there's my father-in-law's Mazda, which has a GPS system that sometimes finds him 200…

That reminded of my father-in-law's Chevrolet, every time you turn off the car it very loudly announces for you to "please check if you haven't left any belongings in the back seat" (or some nonsense like that). So every time he drops us off late at night the car screaming wakes the baby when we arrive.

In 2006 I had a new Prius that turned on a loud, annoying back up beeper. It would wake my theninfant son up. I finally found a "cheat code" that let me enter a service menu and disable it.

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

#225

Post by dylan604 »

reaperducer wrote: post #185
caymanjim wrote: post #140

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 su…

Have you looked at the data on the SD card? Can it be manipulated in any way as to show that it is being used even if not?

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

#227

Post by danhon »

djrogers wrote: post #210
OJFord wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which case 'hey, someone is opening the door an insane amount, which is not good for the fridge or your food' might be a handy alert, so you know what they're up to and can stop them? (I'm not saying it should be internet connected for that purpose though.)

> so you know what they're up to and can stop them? Lol, sure - go ahead and stop a 5 year old from checking the fridge a few times a day when here hungry. See how much better that makes your life. Again - when you have kids, you will understand...

THANK. YOU.

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

#228

Post by dylan604 »

ljm wrote: post #193
codesections wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3. Most people would prefer not to have it, but due to a free market failure, the ungimmicked product just isn't available any more? No, I'd go with (4) people would prefer not to have it, but companies know that they can monitize the data they collect[0] and thus are willing to offer a discount that's large enough to get people (who may or may not know about the data collection) to buy the smart™ version. [0]: htt…

5) people can't afford the unburdened tech so they will go for the lowest-priced/highest reviewed option and nothing else matters

5-rev) People don't know about and/or care about tracking/telemetry, and do not understand that the data collected earns the manufacture additional income. They only see price and highly manipulated revies, then make their purchase.

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

#229

Post by eplanit »

I had a new A/C installed in my house a few years ago. The technician asked for the wifi password so that the A/C could connect. He was very puzzled when I laughed and told him no, the A/C has no need for the Internet. He went on and on about controlling the thermostat from an app...and how the date/time would always be in sync.

At first I got very concerned that it was required, and was preparing for a very unpleasant conversation about how they would have to replace it with a different model. Fortunately, it was an option...that year.

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

#230

Post by dylan604 »

SuoDuanDao wrote: post #145
MarkusWandel wrote: post #134

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 guess that the company believes it can extract ($50+cost of the gimmickry) from the people who buy the gimmicky product.

>$50+cost of the gimmickry

at scale, I'd venture to guess the cost of the gimmickry rounds to 0.

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