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I have so many connected devices in my home. How do I determine which ones have microphones and which don't?

by ap22213 11y ago

rsync 11y ago
You can't. The answer is to reduce the number of connected devices. Your refrigerator does not need networking capability. Nor does you wash machine or your toaster or your tig welder. In fact, I would argue that even your display device (your "smart tv") should not have a network connection, but I think I'm in the minority there. For those that are interested, I have very good luck using "commercial displays" like the ones you see in airport signage. They are dumb. They are also fantastic and well engineered displays.
- CaptSpify 11y ago
  > Your refrigerator does not need networking capability. Nor does you wash machine or your toaster or your tig welder. Although you are correct, there's a lot of advantages that can be had with these devices being on a network. I know this answer isn't for everyone, but I personally have a home-network dedicated to devices, and it's air-gapped from the internet. I don't really see any other solution to this (other than FOSS-everything), but I would love one.
  - eveningcoffee 11y ago
    Indeed! Problem is that there exists people who try to convince us that we need a middleman between our networked devices and us - that we need to connect our devices not into our home network but with their servers. The reality is that we do not need middlemen, the middlemen needs us such that they could steal the data, repackage it and sell it. I will give one example that I have already given before. Suppose you have an IoT device in your bedroom that uploads CO2 values (of course it may also do something useful too such us showing this data to you or regulating the ventilation). Now the rate of CO2 production depends on bodily activities. More activity means more CO2 production. I suppose that you agree that having this information you more or less are capable to deduce when a couple has sex. This means that we could calculate a metric how much sex is going on and relate it to specific user. Suppose that we detect that rate of sex has gone down by 20 (a made up number dependant of our model). We can now sell this information. This information is for example useful perhaps for psychologist who want to sell you counselling. But it is even more interesting for divorce lawyers who now could prey on couples having period of difficulty in their sex lives. Even more, this information could be made more valuable by some additional influence. For example feeding the user with articles related to marital happiness and sex life. I leave the rest for you imagination. I think that such devices are very usable, but the data should not leave our home.
Zigurd 11y ago
Cameras and accelerometers can be a rough stand-in for a mic if one is not available.

I have so many connected devices in my home. How do I determine which ones have microphones and which don't?

by ap22213 11y ago

I have so many connected devices in my home. How do I determine which ones have microphones and which don't?

rsync 11y ago

You can't. The answer is to reduce the number of connected devices. Your refrigerator does not need networking capability. Nor does you wash machine or your toaster or your tig welder. In fact, I would argue that even your display device (your "smart tv") should not have a network connection, but I think I'm in the minority there. For those that are interested, I have very good luck using "commercial displays" like the ones you see in airport signage. They are dumb. They are also fantastic and well engineered displays.

CaptSpify 11y ago
> Your refrigerator does not need networking capability. Nor does you wash machine or your toaster or your tig welder. Although you are correct, there's a lot of advantages that can be had with these devices being on a network. I know this answer isn't for everyone, but I personally have a home-network dedicated to devices, and it's air-gapped from the internet. I don't really see any other solution to this (other than FOSS-everything), but I would love one.
- eveningcoffee 11y ago
  Indeed! Problem is that there exists people who try to convince us that we need a middleman between our networked devices and us - that we need to connect our devices not into our home network but with their servers. The reality is that we do not need middlemen, the middlemen needs us such that they could steal the data, repackage it and sell it. I will give one example that I have already given before. Suppose you have an IoT device in your bedroom that uploads CO2 values (of course it may also do something useful too such us showing this data to you or regulating the ventilation). Now the rate of CO2 production depends on bodily activities. More activity means more CO2 production. I suppose that you agree that having this information you more or less are capable to deduce when a couple has sex. This means that we could calculate a metric how much sex is going on and relate it to specific user. Suppose that we detect that rate of sex has gone down by 20 (a made up number dependant of our model). We can now sell this information. This information is for example useful perhaps for psychologist who want to sell you counselling. But it is even more interesting for divorce lawyers who now could prey on couples having period of difficulty in their sex lives. Even more, this information could be made more valuable by some additional influence. For example feeding the user with articles related to marital happiness and sex life. I leave the rest for you imagination. I think that such devices are very usable, but the data should not leave our home.

Zigurd 11y ago

Cameras and accelerometers can be a rough stand-in for a mic if one is not available.