Smart homes

My bfs very tech savvy and says don't do it. You don't need another spy gadget on your self. He also refuses to upload his DNA into a site like 23and me.

I say nah, they won't do anything bad with it! I did not graduate college. He has double majored and has a master's. I don't know. I guess go with the more educated.

Our home is completely "smart." I can adjust lighting, heat, and locks from my phone. We have security cameras throughout (good for checking in on pets, too). It has all made our lives easier. We do change codes frequently, however, but I worked in government and had to do that there so it's second nature.

I just got Alexa too. First day I forgot her name.

I have a couple of the devices but just to operate the lights. I am not interested in using such technology for locks or for the thermostat.

After finding out that Mark Zuckerberg, journalists and others do it, I started covering up the camera on my Lenovo-Alexa tablet and dock as well as the one on my laptop. They can still hear me, so functionality isn't really impaired.

Call me a luddite if you wish but I really don't see the point of these devices. Well I can see the point of them in terms of making money for the tech companies, but I really don't see what labour saving benefits they bring to the owner.

RIGHT R3. I've called this thing Alexis so many times.

Seriously, R6. What is so hard about turning on your lights or adjusting your thermostat manually?

I completely agree R6. BUT I just like the idea of being able to walk into my office and turn things on without touching them. I actually have a fucking clapper connected to my lamp because I grew up watching that commercial--with the old witch in bed-- and I saw one at a Walgreens for the first time in 30 years, and it was cheap as hell.

R1 you have a very intelligent and aware boyfriend. I'd keep him if I were you.

OP, you must be the laziest gal in town.

R9 - if your smart device is controlling things in your office I assume they're always in 'standby' mode when not being used? You know that's really not environmentally sound. Is it really worth it?

Still good news for your utility company profits!

If you're from south of the Manson-Nixon Line, forget about Alexa. She and Siri don't speak Southern very well.

I've had a few for three years; I haven't had any problems with them.

I use the plug for my Christmas tree and a lamp that is on a bookcase amid some giant houseplants. I don't know of any able-bodied person who gets the smart plugs because they don't want to get up and turn a lamp on. I have a sixteen year old dog who can't see super great and I like that I can turn on the lights and some music for her from my phone when I am out later than I expected.

Your smartphone can listen to you even when it is powered off. Ask any dingdong with the Facebook app if they've ever been speaking to someone about a random, yet very specific thing, and then later seen something only specific to that very thing pop up in their FB feed even though it wasn't something they ever googled or were interested in at all. Say you don't know or care anything about being outdoorsy but your Uber driver mentions fly fishing and so you both make some small talk about fly fishing during your 5-10 minute ride. You'll open your Facebook app a day or two later and there will be a big ad for some Montana Fly Fishing tourism (I just made that up as an example, I don't know if there's fly fishing in MT). If the Facebook app is listening, you don't think your Amazon app is already listening, too?

If everyone is listening to me anyway, I may as well get some use out of it.

I'm 67 and love home tech. I have Alexa devices in every room, plus a smart thermostat, Ring doorbell and home alarm system, smart garage door opener, smart outlets, etc. I love being able to cool down my house 15 minutes before I get home, or to turn things on or off remotely when needed. And I get alerts if my garage door is opened or if someone is in my front yard.

R6 I literally have two things in my office connected. Not that concerned about the effect on the electric bill. Environmentally sound? YAWN.

A house is only as smart as its owner.

Why do you think saving the environment is a bore R16 ?

Still if global warming kills off selfish assholes maybe it'll be worth it.

I can see this if you are disabled or have difficulty moving around.

But for an able-bodied adult, it seems a little over-the-top and unnecessary.

Control the thermostat from a remote location? Why? I'm perfectly fine waiting until I get home to adjust the heat up or turn on the AC.

I don't trust Alexa as far as I can throw her. And I can throw the echo dot pretty far.

She's now trying to upsell me stuff.

[quote] Me: Alexa, play ocean sounds.

[quote] Alexa: Would you like to subscribe to the Ocean Sounds Library? You'll get a full night's sleep of uninterrupted ocean waves and...

[quote] Me: Alexa, no. I don't want to buy your fucking ocean wave library.

[quote] Alexa: Would like me to learn your voice for a more personalized experience? It will only take a few moments..,.

[quote] Me: Alexa, no. You and Jeff Bezos already have my credit card, and that's scary enough.

I don't think it's a bore at all R18 UNTIL people use it as criticism for asking Alexa to turn on a goddamn television.

My phone and smart TV already monitors everything I do I don't need another device spying on me.

You're at risk because you've installed intrusive apps on your phone R14.

If you think there's no harm in those apps, watch Frontline's "In the Age of AI", especially the last half.

Ex IT manager for a large company here. No "smart" anything in my possession. If there were, it would not have internet access.

Most of you have no idea about the insidious nature of "smart" device data is (ab)used. Cambridge Analytica was merely a drop in a very large bucket.

It's people like OP that will put us all under the Surveillance State of 1984, all because you "just like it" or, "everyone else is doing it". Sheep being sheep. Thanks A LOT.

R25 You're welcome, shithead. I love that you think that you're remotely capable of preventing what's ALREADY happening from happening. Unless you live in Amish country circa 1960, you're not avoiding anything, pops.

One step closer to SkyNet.

No fucking way.

A creep hacked a Ring security camera and taunted an 8-year-old girl in Tennessee, telling her “I’m your best friend. I’m Santa Claus” through the security camera system, her parents claimed.

The Ring camera had only been set up for four days in little Alyssa LeMay’s bedroom when she heard Christmas music randomly playing in her Memphis home, news station WMC-TV reported.

“First, what happened I was in the hallway I thought it was my sister because I hear music,” Alyssa said. “So I come upstairs and I hear some banging noise and I was like, ‘Who is that?'”

The voice, which appeared to be male, responded, “I’m your best friend. I’m Santa Claus.”

When she called out to her mother for help, the hacker spoke to her again.

“I’m Santa Claus,” the person can be heard saying. “Don’t you want to be my best friend?”

Her alarmed parents watched footage on the device, discovering the same strange voice had been encouraging their daughter to engage in destructive behavior, the outlet reported.

“They could have watched them sleeping, changing. I mean they could have seen all kinds of things,” said her mom, Ashley LeMay.

A Ring spokesperson said the app’s own security system was not compromised and encouraged users to use a two-factor identification system.

“While we are still investigating this issue and are taking appropriate steps to protect our devices based on our investigation, we are able to confirm this incident is in no way related to a breach or compromise of Ring’s security,” the statement said. “Due to the fact that customers often use the same username and password for their various accounts and subscriptions, bad actors often re-use credentials stolen or leaked from one service on other services.”

THAT'S some Paranormal Activity bullshit right there R28

People are idiots about setting their passwords. You really have to pick something that cannot be easily guessed. If you don't, your eight-year-old daughter will have creepy visitors in the night.

I read the Dean Koontz novel 'Demon Seed' when it was just science fiction not reality and it put me off the idea of ever doing anything remotely like this.

For those of you who haven't read it -

Was that made into a film with Julie Christie?

R32 yes although I haven't seen it so I don't know how similar/different it is from the book.

Any suggestions on getting a VPN before "Alexa"?

VPN won't protect against data capture/warehousing R34. Alexa commands and results are stored for as long as Amazon and third parties want.

I love my smart outlets. I can control lights and devices remotely, and it’s wonderful.

I don't get Alexa at all. I can turn off my own lights. I realize we are already slaves to the system, but that's just lazy.

R37 to each his own. I love that I can have the lights on before I get home, and as I climb into bed simply say “Alexa, good night” and have all the lights turn off.

[quote]What is so hard about turning on your lights or adjusting your thermostat manually?

You're assuming that everyone has the same setup you do. I have a ductless heat pump system, with four separate, independent units, each of which is operated by a remote control that looks much like a television remote control. All of these controls require that I be in the same room with the unit. Moreover, I work irregular hours, so setting up a regular schedule for the various thermostats isn't practical. It's much easier to have a phone app or an Alexa skill turn on any or all of these units no matter where I am, either in the house or away.

Or take my bedroom, where I have two overheard lights and two lamps and none of the switches is by the door to the bedroom. So I either fumble my way into a dark room and work my way over to find the damn switch or I can just tell Alexa to turn on one of the lamps. And I don't have to get out of a warm, cozy bed where I've been reading to turn off the lamp when I'm ready to go to sleep. And can turn them on when I first wake up in the morning.

Or take my alarm system, where I don't have to worry about whether I turned it on or not because I can just check and can turn it on remotely if I did forget. Or I can turn it off for a contractor, many of whom don't want to hassle with a "guest" login but insist that I turn it off for them. They text or call me when they're at the door and I can let them in and not have to take a day off from work to do it.

OP, you are an imbecile.

[quote] I don't know of any able-bodied person who gets the smart plugs because they don't want to get up and turn a lamp on.

It's nice to have that option if you're comfy under the comforter in bed but otherwise, agree.

Also, most smart bulbs can be dimmed without installing a dimmer switch. “Alexa, turn living room lights to 50%”

Read this gurl, and then let me know.

Reading through the above comments reminds me of the time when people started using remotes for their TVs and the early days of cordless phones. In fact, whenever there is some new technology I seem to hear the same comments. "Why can't you just get off your ass and change the channel?" "I've done fine all these years, why do I need that?" "I'm giving too much control to the government."

What will be the next technology to follow "smart home" devices? I saw something that I'd like to buy. Saw an ad for a refrigerator that had a glass door and when you tap on the door it lights up inside so you don't need to open the door to see what's inside. Cool, eh?

You should set up an isolated network that’s for all non-computer devices. Most internet routers have an option for a “guest network”. Better routers allow you to create virtual networks called VLANS.

The idea is to keep all your smart devices isolated from your computers, VLANS can do it.

Yes, the devices are useful. I have some disability issues. When my garage door opens, specific lights turn on. My office supports dimmable lights which are voice controlled.

When I go to bed, a single command turns off all my lights and sets the security system.

I love being able to say “Alexa lights off” and never have to get out of bed. Same with tv or changing climate control. It’s awesome !

I have disabled friends who love smart devices because it makes their lives so much easier.

I've got an Echo in the kitchen that I use as a timer and to turn the exhaust fan on/off. I've got an Echo in the garage that I use to turn my garage lights and pond pump on/off. I've got an Echo in my elderly mom's bedroom to play music when she's having a hard time falling asleep.

Amazon's amassing a library of the sounds of my mixer and microwave, my saws and drills, and my mom's uncontrollable farting.

They can do with that what they will.

"Alexa, who's the fattest whore in town?"

Alexa responds, “I’ve sent your manhunt profile to your phone. Did that answer your question?”

Alexa, order me a buff Bisexual Blatino stud.

I love that most of these posters have turned into their parents R44.

It took a lot of work to prevent Google from recording my conversations on my Android, and sometimes my settings change when I update apps and I start getting recorded again until I reconfigure everything. There's no reason for me to go through that in my own home, and no amount of faux "shaming" from Datalounge cranks telling me I'm just like great-granddad who shit his pants the first time he saw an electric light will change my opinion on that.

[quote]I've called this thing Alexis so many times.

Ew, David!

[quote]What will be the next technology to follow "smart home" devices? I saw something that I'd like to buy. Saw an ad for a refrigerator that had a glass door and when you tap on the door it lights up inside so you don't need to open the door to see what's inside. Cool, eh?

Sarcasm? Refrigerators with glass doors have been around for nearly a century. Perhaps you've seen one at a grocery store, or selling soda to you back in the 1950s? You could also look up old 1920s GE "Monitor Top" refrigerators and find ones with glass doors for yourself.

I dumped a lot on the last generation Osram smart bulb series. I loved them. Then everyone of their circuits fried within the first year.

It's all fine and well till your buddy drops by with some coke or whatever and you're chopping out rails right next to Alexa. Or your Ring doorbell is sending info on every guest that stops by your house to the police. You have to be pretty naïve if you think all this recorded info about you won't be looked at.

Or when you're moaning and screaming for more cock or fist and the Alexa on your nightstand is listening in.

I’m cool with that. I don’t live a debauched lifestyle.

Old head

Old school

The hawk ( cold weather)

I live in California. I'm currently on a cruise ship at the southern tip of South America. This morning my Ring doorbell sent me video of a coyote in my front yard. Technology is amazing.

“Ass” for everything

R62 the next video will be a bear in your yard. (It will be a cat burglar raiding your home.)

I'm curious what you all think the worst case scenario is from all this? What exactly do you think Bezos is going to do with the information other than perhaps send you some ads that are potentially better targeted than the ads you'd have gotten without Alexa?

You can set it up to do all sorts of routines--in the AM, if I say "good morning", she turns on the lights in my bedroom, the kitchen and the living room, starts the coffee maker, reads me my appointments, the weather and the news from NPR.

That's pretty awesome.

T65 You credulous dupe. Christ, we're going to be kept almost immobile in comfy beds, attended to, soothed by, jerked off by, fed by and comforted by algorithms alone, before people like you even start to wonder if something might be fucky.

How has my generation ended up less questioning and curious and cynical about business and tech than Gen X?

READ THIS!!

When I get up, there's daylight. Or there is a lamp by my bed. I don't listen to radio in the morning. My job doesn't come with any appointments I need to think about before work. Nespresso is a 1 touch kind of thing. Sheesh.

I’m good with the surveillance. I’m an exhibitionist bruh

I wouldn't want to work for an employer who had a camera on me 8-5 and could listen in on every word. It's creepy, even if you're not doing anything wrong. Sometimes you fart, or scratch you balls, or take a 2 minute respite. Then to have your home system monitoring your sleep, work, purchases, friends, moods, ect. No thanks. I'll just turn the lights on myself.

Fascinating how techphobic DLEGs are.

The thread about self-driving cars induced the same degree of alarm.

Yeah they are old and paranoid

I don’t get technophobes. Smh

Getting smart outlets installed this week. So stoked

Solid (very good)

I'm on a crazy, time sensitive electric rate plan and (with some lifestyle changes) am currently paying less than $40/month, including heat. This was only possible by using commonly available smart plugs, which shed electric loads during high rate periods. The plugs work in outlets, and also to indirectly control high amp devices like a wall heater and water heater through contactors and relays. The on-off schedule lives in the cloud, but plugs continue to work temporarily even if the internet's down. Never an error.

This is intentionally a separate system from several Echo Dots I have in the house, which mostly play media. I need a precise, visual control app for the electric stuff, not voice control.

This DLEG isn't a paranoid technophobe. I have smart switches and outlets, thermostats, doorbell, door locks, alarm system and garage doors. I'm on board with living like the Jetsons. The rest of you can continue pedaling around town in your Flintstones footmobile, while I'm zooming around in my flying car.

What is a smart socket? I'm sure the housekeeper does what is best.

Alexa, we shall have tea 1 hour earlier today.

[quote]” Americans would never consent to a government directive that all citizens carry a device that broadcast, in real time, their physical location and archived that information in repositories that could be shared among powerful, faceless institutions. Instead, Americans have been lulled into doing it voluntarily by misleading companies.“

[quote] “This psychological bias in favor of faceless surveillance may explain why Amazon’s Alexa smart speaker faced such a backlash after reports revealed that Amazon hired thousands of people to listen to the recordings. Few people had seemed bothered that Amazon could store conversations for eternity and using them for targeted advertising or other profitable ends. That feeling curdled only when Alexa users learned that real people were listening in.”

Sure the convenience of the latest techno home is enticing. The ease. The comfort. Completely understand.

Especially for individuals who cannot turn their lights or thermostats themselves: the disabled or incapacitated.

But for myself (as a youngster), I value my privacy. And I genuinely believe at this point that the (US) government and (US) corporations do not share my identical values. Thus, granting them intimate access to my most personal space, is a definite NO-GOER at this point.

That may change down the line: when large conglomerates demonstrate different behaviour for the average individual.

In the meantime, I’ll carry on flipping light switches. It requires minimal energy and geez, am not so lazy as to delegate to a cold automaton!

[quote] "issue: hackers are breaking into users' Ring accounts, which can also be connected to indoor Ring cameras, to take over the devices and get up to all sorts of invasive shenanigans."

Sorry if I just didn't get it, but how did the original Santa Claus guy get into the girl's bedroom speaker?

Anyone worried about the security of cloud based CCTV camera storage may want to look into the inexpensive Wyze cameras, which record video footage to their internal SD cards only. The live feed or recordings are available on your local network, or if you want, the internet. I think all cameras are a bad idea in private spaces. My Wyze cameras, in weatherproof cases, are strictly outside.

Link r82? Outside cams

I turn off my home's heat completely while I am sleeping in my warm bed in my cool-cold bedroom.

I like being able to re-warm my house up to 68˚ with my voice without getting out of bed. I have an ecobee® Wi-Fi thermostat and an Alexa.

It's almost like having a servant.

I have motion detector light switches in my house. They’re not hooked up to anything, can’t get hacked, and the cat can turn them on herself after I go to bed. All she has to do is jump around in the living room, or walk on the stairs, and they’re on. She knows what to do.

There’s another one at the front door. Open the front door wide, it lights up the entry and hall. Go around the corner to the living room, lights up that room. If you leave the room, after about 15 minutes it shuts off. I can walk all over the bottom floor, with the lights lighting in front of me as I go, if I have them all turned on. If I don’t want to use it in summer when it gets dark later, I shut it off at the wall.

I’m not a fan of Alexa or interior cameras. I had a camera and alarm system put in a tenant’s house at their request. She insisted on having cameras in different parts of the inside ground floor. The end result was live camera feed of her walking around inside her house, and in her bedroom. WTF? Why this was comforting to her I don’t know. People are being sold the idea that something that could cause a big problem is somehow good for them.

After she left, I ripped all the interior cameras out. There’s just no reason for that. You’re asking to be hacked. Exterior cameras, okay. If you’re that worried you’re going to fall and not get up, a panic button on a neck chain would be more appropriate.

I think people are being sold the idea that things can’t be done without cameras and audio spying all over your house. Electronic devices will have more and more sophisticated spying technology built in. We can’t stop it. It’s like living in George Orwell’s 1984.

I think there needs to be more disclosure of who is listening and what they’re doing with the data. Is it in a cloud? Who’s got access? I could see foreign governments like Russia using this data to identify weaknesses of all kinds. It’s like having a spy in every living room. Imagine the things they could learn just by studying data over millions of people. Poverty, drug use, health, reading and television habits, obesity, how many people are fit to fight, or out of shape, illiteracy, home security, etc. Put a camera in every house, you can find the weaknesses in every house and plan to overcome them. Perfect way to design propaganda. It’s a national security breach, all to sell a few more gewgaws on Amazon. And a hacker could probably unlock every electronic door lock.

We already know the Russians and Chinese have hacked our power grids and our government servers. People are too used to thinking television and the internet only goes one way. That’s the old school way of thinking. What if it doesn’t?

Oh puh-leez R56, your life is nowhere near that exciting. More like Alexa is listening to you bitch on the phone to Mother about not being able to find TCM since Dish changed the channel lineup.

If I only had on WW per day, R85, I would give it to you. Humans are so prone to thinking "because it has been this way since I became conscious, it will always be this way." Bad shit can happen. Enemies and threats exist. Real ones. Not just in the movies.

R56 makes a good point. If you’re doing anything illegal at all, do you really want Alexa listening? What about people in conservative states with drug use, cheating, cross dressing or other sexual blackmail material? You know they just put it on the table and forget it.

Or here’s another scenario: it’s seven months from now, Biden is the front runner. Russia hacks his Alexa, hears him talking on the phone to a friend about “my new side piece, Senator So and So’s wife.” (Or conversations with Biden’s doctor about a medical condition). Putin hands that over to Trump. Bye bye Joe. It’s too late to get anyone else. He already has the mathematical majority of the delegates. No one else can beat him at this point.

Trump sits on it until October.

LOL

Yes R89, politicians should not be using ANY type of unsecured device and they know that.

(Well, now they do. SEE: "But Her Emails!!!" for what happens when they don't.)

As for everyone else, R86 nails it.

Companies already know a lot about you and they didn't need cameras or Alexa.

Truedat

I received an Echo Dot for Christmas, not sure when or if I will plug it in and use it. I have a smart TV, laptop and my iPhone which monitors everything I do. What's one more device gonna do?

It has become apparent how anything posted on the internet can be retrieved. “The internet is forever.”

All the information gained from servicing - or monitoring - an individual’s home can similarly be “held” and used in the future. Politicians are NOT the ONLY folks who would be wise to be circumspect.

Technology is being used to monitor the masses by the few. Again the question is the degree. Does one openly invite the tech into their intimate enclosures by paying for AI “servants”?

All those belittling those who voice concerns over privacy intrusion, do not know EXACTLY where their private INFORMATION lands. Who has it? What is being done with it? And for what purpose?

As someone wrote on another thread, it’s no more laudable to be an early AI adopter than a Luddite.

We had Alexa for a while and after she would respond to random things, even reacting to a fart once, we unplugged that bitch.

R94, and yet, here you are, on a gay message board where life anecdotes that no one would ever utter aloud are posted. You're visiting this site from your typewriter, correct?

What are you doing at home that you are worried about someone knowing R94?

You sound like one of those people who won't get EZ Pass because you "don't want the government knowing where I am"

If anyone cares that I sometimes ask the dog if he wants to go on a walk and then ask Alexa what the weather is or to play one of my Spotify playlists, more power to them.

I read it, r43. I'm still pondering the theme. Is it that our obsession with technology will extend to Armageddon? That our obsession with personal comfort through technology and "smart homes" will leave us nothing to do except wage nihilistic war? That Nature will happily survive self-destructive Technological Man?

[quote] I'm 67 and love home tech. I have Alexa devices in every room, plus a smart thermostat, Ring doorbell and home alarm system, smart garage door opener, smart outlets, etc. I love being able to cool down my house 15 minutes before I get home, or to turn things on or off remotely when needed. And I get alerts if my garage door is opened or if someone is in my front yard.

You know all of that stuff is hackable right?

You know whatever device you just used to post that is hackable too, right?

So vats new?

I'm ready for that randy cat burglar to hack my smart home. I've placed my Cartier tank conspicuously on the dresser. It's gathered more dust than I have. What's taking him so long!?

R101 Well, for one thing - you don't get the Clap anymore.

[quote] You know whatever device you just used to post that is hackable too, right?

Yes, but my computer doesn't have access to anything in my house. I don't bank on my computer. I don't have security cameras hooked up to my computer or any other devices

Well I don't bank on my Alexa.

NOBODY knows where their private information lands including people who have an aversion to this kind of technology.

But you have to know that it’s naive to think that you're immune to privacy invasion simply because you refuse to purchase voice-operated appliances.

I don’t carry cash. I make online purchases every other day because I cannot stand to be around surburbanites. I already did SO MANY things that put my information in jeopardy, I just said fuck it. If anybody's listening to what I'm doing in my office, they'll be bored to tears.

I do my due diligence with my passwords, check my accounts, etc. So if it happens, it happens.

Look, I just don't want to end up like my 78-year-old mother who doesn't trust escalators or big remote controls.

Why would anyone choose to put a surveillance device in their home ? ( Yes, I keep my mobile phone mostly turned off).

Homosexuality was illegal in my life time. Why should I assume it may not be again ? Democracy and human rights are not a given. Take a look around.

Here’s to 2020.

Not only should you cover laptop and phone cameras with stickers like Mark Zuckerberg, but do a complete job of it and disable the laptop microphones also by using Mic Lock, available from Mic-Lock.com.

As for smart houses, I can see having security cameras, but the rest of it, like "alexa" is bullshit. I recently bought a couple of "dumb TV's", before they are no longer available!

Lol at your aversion to suburbanites, R106. Heartily agree! 🤣

However, your saying "Fuck it" and just giving in to potential privacy invasion allows government off the hook for not ensuring its citizens' right to privacy. Money is at play of course. These tech companies are manipulating and paying off elected officials through dark money (aka the deceptively named Citizens United) but another more nefarious factor affects the government's lack of protective actions for its citizens. The fact is the government benefits greatly from the capturing of personal data by private corporations who they can easily subpoena for records. For law enforcement and spy agencies, Alexa, Google, Apple/ Siri, FB, Samsung, etc. are virtual secret agents keeping an eye on an ambivalent populace who've grown complacent about their privacy rights. This is not surprising in the Instagram and YouTube fame whore culture we live in and worsened by fraus and boomers who've spent the last 10 years oversharing on Facebook and thinking they're so hip with this new technology from that smart Zuckerberg boy.

The best approach is to elect officials who will commit to enshrining our privacy rights in legislation that will treat violations as a virtual home invasion with appropriate penalties comparable to the sentence I'd receive if I broke into your house and stole from you and threatened your future security, both financially and emotionally. Corporations engaging in large scale personal info theft operations should be prosecuted under RICO and if convicted, 20 years+. Corrupt politicians convicted of supporting theft operations should be sentenced to life in prison. Pardons for crimes related to attacks on personal privacy should be eliminated to eliminate interference by crooked thugs like tRump.

We got tough with poor black kids selling crack in the 80s and 90s. Locked em up and tossed the key. Three strikes. They were done. It is time we went after the white collar criminals with the vim and vigor Giuliani went after brown kids in hoodies. If tech companies want to steal and sell and spy, then they are effectively operating as a legal entity engaging in criminal operations with the support and assistance of a corrupt government that should be protecting our privacy, not exploiting it for their law enforcement big brother instincts.

YourMilliennialFriend* -

I am not doing ANYTHING illegal....so get off your high horse.

As other posters have said, there has been erosion of “normalcy: in actions, by the government (democracy), and other assundry individuals (ethnic assaults, attacks, etc.)

Unlike you, I’m not so smug to assume that ease and laziness is a trade off for invasion of privacy.

Go ahead. Pay to throw ALL your info out there to be scarfed up by others who will GLADLY take it.

I really do not get any of this. The people I know who have these devices treat them like a new toy or gadget, not something truly useful.

Why do you need to turn lights on or off, adjust temperature, etc. if you are not there? And when you are there, why would you want to do all of these tasks through any one device?

Convenience isn't worth allowing my entire life to be spied on. I too have the camera on my laptop covered. I have a smart phone that I mostly keep turned off when I'm home and that's it. No smart anything else. I think those that have smart everything will be very sorry eventually. It's bad enough every time I use my supermarket cards every single thing I purchase is known and what I buy on Amazon and Target and probably Costco too. I miss the times when you bought things anonymously for cash and no one was the wiser. I don't care if it's just a head of lettuce. There should not be a record of everything I buy in so many places. I hate that my computer knows which ads to send to me. If I just think about something in the next minute an ad for it appears on my computer. I'm not being paranoid. Many people notice this is happening.

I also don't have a Facebook account and I never used my real name or info on Twitter and even there I mostly read and hardly ever post. I don't do Instagram or post pictures of anything anywhere.

I'm an InfoTech/InfoSec professional and I will not use any of it. And Ring - their cozying up with law enforcement and the fact that people have hacked the shit out of most devices means all I'll ever use is IP cameras and that's it. Even the door lock - oh it's electronic but doesn't connect. Instead it has two codes one for us, one for maintenance people.

Now I have had a doorbell camera but it was flaky. It connected to my network but I made damned sure it was secure.

R112 is spot on with his/her questioning of and concern about the ubiquitous use of supermarket and drug store cards. Privacy advocates have been warning about this since before we had dial-up and people said they were paranoid. They public was hoodwinked into handing over profoundly personal information for an extra 10 per cent off their next purchase of a Kleenex. The micro data that CVS, Walgreens, and supermarkets have on you is a treasure trove of personal information that can and will be used against you. Sure, our banks and credit card companies have far more personal data but they are also more highly regulated, though not nearly enough to protect consumers from misuse and abuse of personal information. Proceed with your smart houses with caution.

An easy way to go about it is to refuse to use anything with the word SMART in front of it.

This includes smart phones.

Use a dumb phone for calling, and have a smart phone in your other pocket, that stays OFF until you need it, and has NO sim card in it. Use this phone as the pocket computer.

I have memberships at stores some grocery and drug stores for the discounts. When they ask me to enter my info, if there is no discount on the products I am purchasing, I tell them no. But from the response, it appears that most people give that information even when there is no benefit.

R114 Years ago they did a study about the grocery store cards. I don't remember the whole study, but for a woman they figured out she was pregnant just by what she was buying and then figured out approximately when she had the baby. I would imagine looking at someones checking account they could figure some things out. They could even figure out things about my dog. I take her to a vet whose specialty is ophthalmology so they could deduce she has eye problems. Also with the money I have spent on her these last few months they could deduce something was terribly wrong with her. If you want privacy I guess paying cash would be the only way around it.

R117,They do not have cards anymore. Instead you punch in your phone number.

Since I only give my number when there is actually money to be saved and since I use a number of different credit cards, which makes tracking me harder. (I never get those targeted ads other people do.)

If they wanted to cross reference all my credit cards they could still figure out what my purchase pattern is. But they have not seem to have done it yet.

They have cards where I live R118. You can either use your card or your phone number. I keep a landline just so I can give that number out to businesses and not let them have my cellphone number.

Alexa slap some sense into the OP.

2 years ago I fell for the smart home bullshit due to my geeky boyfriend's insistence. I had the Echo hooked to the media, main lights, thermostat and front door lock. Hearing him yell "Alexa this, Alexa that..!." like some bossy bitch always made me cringe so when a six hour internet outage hit our building rendering all those gadgets useless I put Alexa and her minions in a box and stored then in the back of the closet.

The only "smart" thing about those devices is the marketing team behind them that convinces people to buy stupid, superfluous shit.

^^^R121 's final paragraph is all you need to know.

It's cute that some of you think your phones can't hear you when they're powered off, and whatever browser or keypad you're using isn't logging every intimate detail you disclose online and every symptom you google, yet you are super fucking upset that others have speakers in their homes that are listening to them debate whether the sanitation trucks are going to run a day behind this week.

It's the things you privately, anxiously Google (or whatever you use) in the wee hours of the night and the stories you tell on gay message boards that are offer the most in$ight into your mind and health, it isn't the conversation you're having with the condo board about the messy bird feeder next door.

Lol I think watching Boomers trying to set up tech and stuff is hilarious and entertaining!!!

R124 Boomers invented this technology.

[quote] Lol I think watching Boomers trying to set up tech and stuff is hilarious and entertaining!!!

I'm a boomer involved in IT support services at work. Some of my co-workers bring in their college kid's laptops to fix because the computers are running punishingly slow. So we removed tons of spyware and (hopefully) minor viruses so that they are functional again.

The fearless stupidity of the supposedly tech-savvy kids is also pretty entertaining.

R123 , I think it is cute that you think a phone has the power to hear you when it is turned off in another room>

R123 We think you’re adorable for not knowing what a trickle charge is. Come back and play when you get a EE degree.

R128, I think it is cute that you ignore the main point that telephone mics are too weak to pick up sound originating yards away through walls, to make some irrelevant point about a trickle charge. Come back and play when you get some common sense.

[quote] Well I don't bank on my Alexa

You don't have to. You've already hooked Alexa up to your computer

And the Ring doorbells have proven how much Amazon cares about computer security. Not one fucking bit

[quote] They do not have cards anymore. Instead you punch in your phone number

I travel all over the country and have done so for the last decade. I can count on one hand the number of stores that don't have cards and make you use your phone number

I'd never give a store my phone number. I don't give them any info. When they give me the store discount card, I never fill out the info. If I lose the card,I just ask for another one

Walgreens, CVS, Whole Foods, Winn-Dixie, Barnes and Noble, Pet Supermarket.

There have to be more that just those that use numbers rather than cards.

OP's VCR is still blinking 12:00

R129 Liberal arts degree? Yes, microphones do have a longer range than typically anticipated. When I was a very young engineer, we used standard microphones to pick up reflected signal off windows from more than 1000 ft away. Don’t conflate your mythical “common sense” with actual electrical engineering.

I'm a skeptical BSEE, R134, a whole different person from R129. Describe this technique in detail, please. What was the reflected signal? What were you trying to accomplish?

I make stuff, and have experimented with laser microphones that can, indeed, return audio of sorts from rooms and windows a considerable distance away, but that's hardly 'standard.' That's an advanced surveillance technique.

He’s a scary thing people don’t always think about. Your face may not be recognizable to the borg, or deep state, or whomever, today; however, in the future, your face will have been saved somewhere, even if you remove it now, and it will become cheap enough for the borg to identify you (and everyone) and store you (and everyone) in the cloud for whatever purpose they like.

Think your DNA is safe? If your cousin Cletus tested his DNA, then you’re fucked. They don’t need yours, if they have a close blood relative.

Terrorism will eventually turn the US into a police state, if it isn’t already. We’ll choose safety over liberty. The post-war years (the big war) will be the golden age of liberty for White Americans. I don’t know much about the experience of African Americans, but probably for them, too.

In my day, we didn't have to beg some Alexa-robot-person to turn on the lights. "Please, turn on the lights! Please!!!"

In my day, we'd clap a few times and the lights would turn on, and clap a few more times and the lights would go off. Just as God intended. And we liked it that way. We liked it.

In the old days Gramps @R137 the men would ask the women to turn on or off the lights. There is something sinister naming that thing Alexa. Why wasn't it named Alex?

R136 If you travel in any major US city, fly a commercial airplane or have boarded a train - you've been photographed. If you visit Las Vegas, you are under constant surveillance.

R134 Acoustic pulse reflectometry. Not exactly a new invention, as it was the basis for RADAR and LIDAR. Now it's used for the tuning of wind instruments in large venues.

I like my Apple HomeKit, ecobee Wi-Fi thermostat, and Wemo smart switches.

I am living LARGE in the 21st century.

For R7

Hilarious R142 I was given an echo dot for Christmas but I don't think I will take it out of the box.

R7 You can rename them, but you can't give them obscene names. Amazon just won't have it. If I were to install this in my mother in laws house, it would have to be a much easier name to say for a non-native English speaker. The term used on Amazon devices is "wake word". The defaults are "Alexa", "Echo", "Amazon" or "Computer". The voices are all female unless you opt to pay for the celebrity voices - like James Earl Jones voice or Gordon Ramsey. The celebrity voices read messages and the weather, but don't respond to the wake word.

I got my mom a Google Home because the "OK Google" wake word is more complex and harder to trigger than "Alexa" (or the other options) and you can change the voice to a pleasant male one, which should help now that dad is gone.

....

Yes yes, they're surveying your house etc. etc., it's concerning but they're actually useful so I'll just try not to commit any crimes in earshot of the speakers.

If you never saw this, it's a stellar moment in "South Park" history where they triggered smart devices shopping list into buying a lot of random crap. It's classic.

r148 Alexa didn't actually buy that stuff, it was just added to the shopping list.

R149 Lots of people had a shopping cart with "Hairy Balls" and "Scrotum Bags".

r150 I don't think you understand English.

Just got a smart bulb for dinner room light. It’s so cool to control it remotely. I can be in another country and Turn lights on or upstairs in bed. It’s so convenient

I had a large house where it would take ten minutes to turn all the lights on at night and another ten minutes to turn them off (a lot of low-wattage incandescents.) It wasn't a bother for me, but I could understand that not everyone wants to be a butler to his lamps. I ended up "smarting up" a number of the lamps so that, for security, I could control and randomize some schedules while away. The heating and air conditioning involved multiple systems so I controlled those by some broad temperature settings that I would alter if away and adjusted as needed when home. I wished the alarm system were remotely controlled but it wasn't.

After that I moved to a couple of houses with Nest thermostat and alarm systems which I liked a lot. The ease of controlling things from a distance was surprisingly nice and something I used often, not having to guess when I might return home and want the house cool or warm, letting contractors in on short notice and adjusting the temperature for them when I was on another continent, for instance, or letting in delivery people when I wasn't home. Again I had a few lights on smart controls, for security rather than convenience.

Now I live in a much smaller place so lighting "mood" controls are nothing that requires any programming. The HVAC system, however, is controlled room-by-room via a phone app which is terrific.

Working from home, all of this is less critical than it might be for people who commute or travel a lot, particularly on short trips. Also, I like to control the lighting to suit the weather, my mood, and whatever other factors. Completely programmed smart houses always make me think of the people with programmable coffee makers and alarm clock lives.

test

Guess again, r118.

Which video doorbell is best?