51–60 of 73 posts
I'd also rather get up to switch the lights on. Moving about periodically is healthy, right?
these smart homes bring up ethical dilemas. I worked for a company and someone got a home automation kit. It monitored comings and goings. They looked at the logs and realized the dog walker one day did a really short walk. How do you broach this? Do you bother for an otherwise responsible walker. I worked for a power monitoring company that put a box in your house, monitored power use for each circuit breaker. The C…
When obama said we need a more 21st century efficient power grid, i thought that sounds great. i thought that meant better equipment and lines that doesnt waste as much electricity, nope. it meant 'smart meters' that can tell all sorts of things about us. they didnt want to save electricity, they wanted our data. The city wanted to install one of those smart meters in my home, i refused. but I was told that unless i…
> 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.
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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.
Like Android.
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> This is why both android and ios are NOT the mobile os of the future. I too would like a more open OS for mobiles, but you have to realize that the majority of users doesn't care about this. They are unconcerned about most privacy issues, don't need to ever tinker at a low level with their devices, and they are the ones ultimately deciding on what the future will be. What matters is the UI, and that the various fea…
> the majority of users doesn't care about this Only because they don't know what is going on.
Don't underestimate the domain knowledge that you've acquired, and the amount necessary to root a phone, let alone take control of linux embedded in a television. It's about more than just not knowing that we're being spied on. It simply isn't efficient to expect so many people, who have already specialized according to their professions and interests, to also take on this level of domain specific knowledge.
Ever since "IoT" started gaining momentum as a marketing buzzword I have been thinking this type of router could be an interesting product for non-nerd users.
Idea: The one device that only the user controls. User veto over all traffic to and from "smart" devices. In theory.
I recall seeing a comment from a Googler on HN once that basically admitted the users only hope for privacy is to control a router.
Not a laptop, phone, browser, smart thermostat, smart speaker, etc.
A router.
Boring.
But not insignificant.
Something as inexpensive and accessible as an RPi was good enough for this user.
these smart homes bring up ethical dilemas. I worked for a company and someone got a home automation kit. It monitored comings and goings. They looked at the logs and realized the dog walker one day did a really short walk. How do you broach this? Do you bother for an otherwise responsible walker. I worked for a power monitoring company that put a box in your house, monitored power use for each circuit breaker. The C…
I believe that it is fundamentally not possible to roll back the degree of surveillance in our global society in an effective way. Our technology is already converging to a near-total degree of surveillance all on its own. The end limit will be Vinge's "locator dust" or perhaps something even more ubiquitous and ephemeral.
I believe the true horror of technological omniscience is that it'll force us for once to live according to our own rules. For the first time in history we'll have to do without hypocrisy and privilege. We're going to learn what explicit rules we can actually live by, finding, in effect, the real shape of human society.
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…
It's worth pointing out that, done right, in return for your privacy you get an end to war and crime. That's a hellofa trade-off.
As a daydream years ago, I thought up a thing: public surveillance kiosks (like the ones I understand they are trying out in New York) that have cameras and large screens. They work by randomly exchanging (nowadays I can just call them) "vines", video snippets, and displaying them. So each kiosk is displaying vines from the others around the zone (city, world, whatever) and there's a very simple UI: tap to rewind, click a button to escalate. Anyone who sees anything weird on a kiosk can easily review it and call attention to it (like 911 but lower intensity.)
This would achieve a monitoring function without any special privileges and with limited privacy impact. It would have to be part of some larger system, but it hopefully gives the general "drift"?
I don't see myself ever getting anything smart, and if I can't avoid it there is no way it touches my internet connection!
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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 is why both android and ios are NOT the mobile os of the future. I too would like a more open OS for mobiles, but you have to realize that the majority of users doesn't care about this. They are unconcerned about most privacy issues, don't need to ever tinker at a low level with their devices, and they are the ones ultimately deciding on what the future will be. What matters is the UI, and that the various fea…
That doesn't make them less bad, or less concerning overall.
If you think things in the world should only change because of popular opinion & sales, then things like emancipation, environmental protection, worker protection, consumer protection laws, and other such things would never have happened.