Maybe. But let's frame it differently. I want many of these things, but I want them to work on my own virtual private network—communicating exclusively with m

Maybe. But let's frame it differently. I want many of these things, but I want them to work on my own virtual private network—communicating exclusively with my other devices and only communicating off-network according to clear and obvious needs for external data (e.g., weather). The problem is today's third-party oriented cloud that assumes that all device-to-device communication requires a third-party intermediary. In an alternate timeline, an encrypted virtual private network shared by all devices would allow peer-to-peer on-network inter-device communication without a third-party eavesdropping. All too facile is the argument that a third-party cloud is required in order to handle the processing demands. This ignores the fact that it's relatively easy to have a personal "compute" node (it would be just a computer like any other after all) that you could run on your own private network (or even lease one from a data center). So yes, I want smart door locks, smart assistants, and all of these "Electric Dreams" gadgets. But I want them to serve me and not a third-party. In some of these spaces, there are viable options, but I want more companies to explore the opportunity of making money selling privacy-enabling omnipresent personal applications.