4 ms·

Sounds like a lot of hellish outcomes to me: Planned obsolescence, selling my data, privacy invasion. Did I miss any?

by beambot 6y ago

WalterBright 6y ago
The only data transmitted to the power company is the query "what is the current price of electricity".
- ComputerGuru 6y ago
  Yeah, but you can bet the manufacturer will avail themselves of every opportunity to make extra money and bundle ads while also selling your data. We've seen it with smart tvs compared to dumb tvs, smart phones compared to dumb phones, smart speakers compared to dumb speakers, etc, etc. You're not thinking capitalistically enough.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
    Why blame capitalism? Call it what it is: exploitation.
    - ComputerGuru 6y ago
      Because it is. People can choose to pay more for a device that doesn't do that, but they don't (for various reasons). It's capitalism meets human psychology.
      - TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
        Capital controlled by private owners rather than the state doesn’t necessarily include greed and fraud. Greet and fraud are encouraged, if not idealised. That’s not capitalism fault though. Every other form of economic policy has the same problem, so it can’t be those systems in and of themselves that are the sole issue.
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    What data? My water heater sends a query every 10 minutes about the electricity price? And where's it going to display the ad?
  - Nasrudith 6y ago
    Smart phones to dumb phones? Seriously? Until someone can post a guide to posting on using a rotary phone that is just an asinine comparison. The fact that IoT is still a running joke and just a tolerated parasite to lower the sticker price at best is proof that the data is garbage because none of them are making much money off of it. Until they have an actual monetiziation plan for the data it is plain magical thinking. "People mostly increase demand on their hot water heater in the early morning, evening, and night for showers dishwashers, and laundry on a semi-weekly, weekly, or bi-weekly basis." "Well I could have told you that without spending six to seven figures on unnecessary expenses on a product line!"
AnthonyMouse 6y ago
In theory it's possible to do it without any of that. All you need is a standard protocol for the power company to announce the current generation rate (and a prediction for what the rate will be over the next 24 hours), which your device then uses to determine when to use power, with no data ever going back in the other direction. Of course, the actual implementations can (and in many cases have) been a lot worse than that.

Sounds like a lot of hellish outcomes to me: Planned obsolescence, selling my data, privacy invasion. Did I miss any?

WalterBright 6y ago

The only data transmitted to the power company is the query "what is the current price of electricity".

ComputerGuru 6y ago
Yeah, but you can bet the manufacturer will avail themselves of every opportunity to make extra money and bundle ads while also selling your data. We've seen it with smart tvs compared to dumb tvs, smart phones compared to dumb phones, smart speakers compared to dumb speakers, etc, etc. You're not thinking capitalistically enough.
- TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
  Why blame capitalism? Call it what it is: exploitation.
  - ComputerGuru 6y ago
    Because it is. People can choose to pay more for a device that doesn't do that, but they don't (for various reasons). It's capitalism meets human psychology.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
      Capital controlled by private owners rather than the state doesn’t necessarily include greed and fraud. Greet and fraud are encouraged, if not idealised. That’s not capitalism fault though. Every other form of economic policy has the same problem, so it can’t be those systems in and of themselves that are the sole issue.
- WalterBright 6y ago
  What data? My water heater sends a query every 10 minutes about the electricity price? And where's it going to display the ad?
- Nasrudith 6y ago
  Smart phones to dumb phones? Seriously? Until someone can post a guide to posting on using a rotary phone that is just an asinine comparison. The fact that IoT is still a running joke and just a tolerated parasite to lower the sticker price at best is proof that the data is garbage because none of them are making much money off of it. Until they have an actual monetiziation plan for the data it is plain magical thinking. "People mostly increase demand on their hot water heater in the early morning, evening, and night for showers dishwashers, and laundry on a semi-weekly, weekly, or bi-weekly basis." "Well I could have told you that without spending six to seven figures on unnecessary expenses on a product line!"

AnthonyMouse 6y ago

In theory it's possible to do it without any of that. All you need is a standard protocol for the power company to announce the current generation rate (and a prediction for what the rate will be over the next 24 hours), which your device then uses to determine when to use power, with no data ever going back in the other direction. Of course, the actual implementations can (and in many cases have) been a lot worse than that.