Jugular MalloyOct 19
Em 

If a device is recording you and everyone around you,

And is sharing all this data with a corporation outside of your control,

It is not a "smart" device,
It is a spying device.

At the very least, you are ethically required to not inflict this surveillance upon others without prior explicit consent.

#TechSurveillance #MassSurveillance #Privacy #Consent #RingDoorbell #MetaRayBan #SmartSpeakers

Oct 19 at 4:39pmWeb
Show threadhardtech.ftsOct 19
@Em0nM4stodon everything 'smart' is actually a computer.
Smartphone is a computer that can phone, smart TV is a computer on which you can watch TV, smart car is a computer on which one's built a car, and so on.
Show threadМя ��Oct 19

@hardtech its not bad, if you fully control this computer. Computer is not a problem itself

@Em0nM4stodon

Show threadDavyJonesOct 19
@hardtech But also dump phones and cars have computers. I would say the common feature of things marketed as "smart" is that they are a computer that someone else controls remotely.
Show threadSeán FenianOct 20
@hardtech @Em0nM4stodon But just because you build digital computers into something doesn't mean you have to run spyware on them.
Show threadQuincy ⁂Oct 19

@Em0nM4stodon

So important. I wish people wouldn't be so deliberately obtuse about this!

"I have nothing to hide" is all fine and dandy until they start to expose other people's data to the collectors ...

Which is all the time

Show threadMaypop the DragonOct 19

@Em0nM4stodon completely irrelevant lmao but i had an idea recently for an actually-smart device to build which is a toaster with the following features

  • reduces cook time when already hot so subsequent toasts aren't more toasted than the first toast
  • displays the amount of energy the toast was just exposed to. you can write it down when you get a perfect toast, and input it later to get the same perfect toast
  • pleasant chime that goes off like 7 seconds before the toast is done (time difference is so it pops out right when you get to the toaster from wherever else you were)

also microwave ovens when they are beeping should let you stop the beeping immediately by pressing the stop button.

Show threadJugular MalloyOct 19
@maypop_neocities @Em0nM4stodon 100% on the last point. How would you measure the amount of energy toast has been exposed to?
Show threadMaypop the DragonOct 19
@jugularmalloy @Em0nM4stodon um tbh i am too stoopid to know that lel. i think maybe you'd only need to know how hot the heating elements are at a given time, and when the bread is in the toaster?
Show threadJugular MalloyOct 20
@maypop_neocities @Em0nM4stodon A thermometer!
Show threadWm.sonOct 20

@jugularmalloy @maypop_neocities @Em0nM4stodon

A toastometer, of course.

Show threadJason123santaOct 24
@Sfwmson @jugularmalloy @maypop_neocities @Em0nM4stodon that all ready exists for an oven
Show threadDefZeroOct 19
@Em0nM4stodon use GrapheneOS. Though ironic, the only phone which is secure enough for the OS is Google's Pixel.
Show threadCadenOct 19
@defzero @Em0nM4stodon though that will be changing soon!
Show threadSaharOct 19
@Em0nM4stodon I only tell the truth, follow me.
Show threadGwennOct 19
@Em0nM4stodon
Is it a reason for divorce? Or is it a reason to lose a day job?🤣
Show threadColin B.🇨🇦Oct 19

@Em0nM4stodon I'm an old guy in IT. Like most of my contemporaries, I have NO smart devices at home. Our TV doesn't have a mic or camera, and is firewalled anyway. I have alight bulb that connects to wifi, and is blocked from going outside the house.

The reason companies promote smart homes is for their benefit, not yours.

Show threadLupo_BavariaOct 19
@Em0nM4stodon Install the free DNS Server Software Pi-hole on a Raspberry Pi, give it a static internal IP address on your router and configure your router to use the Raspberry as DNS Server. Then you can block any spy with a mouseclick and/or can download blocklists from GitHub or other sources.
Show threadLord Caramac the Clueless, KSCOct 19
@Em0nM4stodon It is entirely possible to build smart devices that work without all of that. If you aren't a DIY tech geek, it's very hard to buy such things though, and they're usually very expensive if you can even find them, because they aren't mass produced. You can build your own smart speaker using a Raspberry Pi, using nothing but local data for speech recognition and synthesis, there are plenty projects like that all over the Internet, but there aren't many good ones you can just buy and plug in, and those that exist are much more expensive than the big brands which are basically just surveillance devices.
There are all kinds of smart devices that can be quite useful, but which I wouldn't use if I couldn't hack them and install some open source firmware. Most of the big brand names use proprietary protocols and can become entirely useless overnight once the company decides that they don't want to support five year old hardware anymore, and that all their customers should just replace everything every five years. There are vendor independent open standards that very few of the big systems actually support, and you need to learn a lot about the technology to actually use them in any meaningful way.
Technology can be used to empower us all, but that is not what the big tech companies want. They want to use technology to keep us under control, keep us addicted, keep us locked in. Under Capitalism, the technology that could help us break out of the cage is rare, expensive, and needs a lot of work and expertise, while the technology that keeps us trapped is cheap and ubiquitous. Under authoritarian Socialism, it's even worse. Don't trust any hierarchical power systems.
Show threadSassinake!Oct 19

@Em0nM4stodon

I'm not rich enough to live outside society.

Show thread"Wish the sun to stand still.." 🌞Oct 19
@Em0nM4stodon This could use an #IoT or #internetofshit tag.
Show threadJohn     Oct 19

@Em0nM4stodon

I tell my #Apple #Homepod device several times during the day what I think of #Trump - lots of swearing. #USPol #auspol

Show threadZoidtesOct 19
@Em0nM4stodon that matches with the trend that people "must" have a videocall in public
Show threadEric LawtonOct 19

@Em0nM4stodon

And they call them "smart speakers", not "[corporation name] microphones".

@MelissaBearTrix

Show threadTranscedentalOct 19
@Em0nM4stodon
Correct
Show threadMegatronicThronBanksOct 19

@Em0nM4stodon

But never forget! You can always shove garbage up a sucking pipe! 

Show threadPeteOct 19
@Em0nM4stodon If most people saw what their phones, apps, TVs and smart devices sent through a sniffer, they'd be mortified.
Show threadWhiskers 🇦🇺Oct 19
@Em0nM4stodon Indeed. Should be a mandatory label declaration
Show threadmirabilosOct 20
@Em0nM4stodon legally, too, probably, at least over here
Show threadCarl_Oct 20

@Em0nM4stodon

"Oh I've used Facebook for a long time and haven't had any issues, I don't know what your problem with this is"

...the comment I got from someone when I voiced my displeasure with their glasses

Never ceases to amaze me how some people are

Show threadJustin DerrickOct 20
@Em0nM4stodon I have a friend that has one. He has accepted the idea that I'll go into his kitchen and put a bowl over it while I'm visiting.
Show threadGregOct 20
@Em0nM4stodon
Doorbells!