A Verge story on hacking your robot vacuum so it doesn’t phone home.

    • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org
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      1 year ago

      You’re not wrong. At a certain point it becomes exhausting. However please don’t lose sight of the fact that this is exactly what company’s want. They want us to give up all of our data because it’s too inconvenient to be upset about it.

      So yes, there is likely a line drawn for when having to flash all your devices with custom firmware becomes not worth it for the individual, however the amount of data that gets collected from “smart” devices is absolutely fucking disgusting and we desperately need actual comprehensive data privacy laws.

      I’d say it’s about harm reduction at this point rather than harm elimination. Do what you reasonably can to protect your privacy but don’t let your mental health suffer because you’re paranoid that someone is going to hack your robot vacuum.

      • Melody Fwygon@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        Asking this question on a privacy community really doesn’t look good on you.

        We shouldn’t have to go to these extremes to protect ourselves… But at the same time if we don’t do this and defend our rights to do so…there will be attempts to legislate against it and make modifying your tech to protect your privacy illegal!

            • ichbinjasokreativ@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              There might have been some miscommunication between us. I fully support the fight for privacy and buy nothing that’s not truly under my control. I do not have a vacuum robot, I run Linux on all my computers, GrapheneOS on my phone, the only ‘smart’ thing about my car is its ability to detect when it’s dark so it can turn on my headlights, that sort of thing. But I don’t know you and your original comment didn’t make it clear to me whether you engaged in defeatist speech or were advocating for privacy.

            • Evotech@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You sound jealous.

              It’s surprising how much dust my robot picks up every day. It’s very nice

      • LilB0kChoy
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        1 year ago

        I can’t speak to the vacuums specifically but often the smart devices don’t work at all or lose a ton of functionality if you cut them off from cloud services.

        Many smart devices work with the cloud service as a required intermediary meaning commands to control the smart device go from your controller (e.g. your phone) out of your home network to the cloud service, then back into your home network to the device.

        This is, in part, a big driver for the self hosted community where the goal is to contain everything within your own network.