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Do NOT give control of your home or domicile to tech giants. Even if you work for them. Giving up your domain to another is essentially giving them the keys and

Do NOT give control of your home or domicile to tech giants. Even if you work for them. Giving up your domain to another is essentially giving them the keys and you a code. You are no longer in control of your house, you are no longer in control of your belongings, you are no longer in control of your life. Don’t do it.

harry8 3y ago
Yes. And this is not the first time I've heard this. Eg mobile phones. Then everyone else does it and you can't exist in the world without it unless you pay a huge penalty. No smartphone is really tough to pull off nowadays so all the "it's a device whose purpose is to spy on you" is still just as true but the boat sailed, possibly without your uncoerced consent. Maybe not this time? Maybe people will hold out? Maybe we won't get locked in by everyone else?
- 411111111111111 3y ago
  > Maybe not this time? Maybe people will hold out? Maybe we won't get locked in by everyone else? It won't, because 'cloud'-smart home is a total gimmick. You get better service by getting local first smart services (ZigBee etc), and even that is barely worth it. It's neat and a fun toy, but ultimately not going to ever see widespread use beyond enthusiast bubbles. I did get my home fully automated though wrt heating/lighting, but it's more akin to a hobby then the value you get from a phone.
  - harry8 3y ago
    smartphones started out as a gimmick, neat fun toy, barely worth it. I never saw needing one to run an app deal with the government, for example. .. Smart home now is not smart home in 5 years is not smart home in 10. You could still be correct, we'll see, I guess.
pengaru 3y ago
The same logic should arguably be applied to your transportation as well IMNSHO.
- CM30 3y ago
  Yeah, 100%. It's why I'll never use a Uber type service for my day to day transport needs, and will make sure any cars I get* don't require accounts, internet access, etc to function. It only takes one mistake, one corporate screwup or one misunderstanding/vindicative asshole and hey, your means of getting to work at a reasonable time is gone. That's too much of a risk to take. * I don't currently use a car, but that's simply because the town I'm in is very walkable.
  - Euphorbium 3y ago
    Using a car at all is giving up control to cops.
    - pengaru 3y ago
      > Using a car at all is giving up control to cops. It's not like you're in any more control vs. cops without a car at your disposal, it's just a tool. But you bet your ass the more automated cars become, the more options cops (and the state in general) will have to remotely take control of their operation. But cops can just as effectively be a problem for pedestrians, cyclists, riders of public transportation... Some of my worst police interactions have been on public transportation. They seem particularly keyed up and predisposed to assume you're poverty scum committing a crime in that context IME (BART police).
    - CM30 3y ago
      There are a few differences though: - Cops actually have to care about the justice system in some way, so won't usually take the car if it's not connected to a crime - Because of the above, there is at least theoretically a way to get it back via the legal system - They have to physically go and get the car - The car still physically works even if there's a court order/arrest warrant/whatever. With a company where you might 'rent' the car on the other hand: - There's no justice system aspect, and they can refuse service for any (non) reason. That could be anything from "we don't like you much" (perhaps because you exposed their CEO's dodgy behaviour or acted as a whistleblower) to "having you as a customer is a PR nightmare" (person on social media claimed you said/did something inappropriate) to "computer says no" (technical glitch, system downtime, etc). - Getting it back requires either enough social media outrage (like with Google account problems) or a costly lawsuit - They could either stop the car from working via remote means like disabling the account needed to login, or blacklist your address from the system so their vehicles don't stop there - If there's a problem, you're fubar. At best you can hack or jailbreak the system to get it working, at worst you have no vehicle at all
M2Ys4U 3y ago
>Do NOT give control of your home or domicile to tech giants. Even if you work for them. Especially if you work for them. And even more so if you are not a member of a trade union that will (help) protect you from your employer.

harry8 3y ago

Yes. And this is not the first time I've heard this. Eg mobile phones. Then everyone else does it and you can't exist in the world without it unless you pay a huge penalty. No smartphone is really tough to pull off nowadays so all the "it's a device whose purpose is to spy on you" is still just as true but the boat sailed, possibly without your uncoerced consent. Maybe not this time? Maybe people will hold out? Maybe we won't get locked in by everyone else?

411111111111111 3y ago
> Maybe not this time? Maybe people will hold out? Maybe we won't get locked in by everyone else? It won't, because 'cloud'-smart home is a total gimmick. You get better service by getting local first smart services (ZigBee etc), and even that is barely worth it. It's neat and a fun toy, but ultimately not going to ever see widespread use beyond enthusiast bubbles. I did get my home fully automated though wrt heating/lighting, but it's more akin to a hobby then the value you get from a phone.
- harry8 3y ago
  smartphones started out as a gimmick, neat fun toy, barely worth it. I never saw needing one to run an app deal with the government, for example. .. Smart home now is not smart home in 5 years is not smart home in 10. You could still be correct, we'll see, I guess.

pengaru 3y ago

The same logic should arguably be applied to your transportation as well IMNSHO.

CM30 3y ago
Yeah, 100%. It's why I'll never use a Uber type service for my day to day transport needs, and will make sure any cars I get* don't require accounts, internet access, etc to function. It only takes one mistake, one corporate screwup or one misunderstanding/vindicative asshole and hey, your means of getting to work at a reasonable time is gone. That's too much of a risk to take. * I don't currently use a car, but that's simply because the town I'm in is very walkable.
- Euphorbium 3y ago
  Using a car at all is giving up control to cops.
  - pengaru 3y ago
    > Using a car at all is giving up control to cops. It's not like you're in any more control vs. cops without a car at your disposal, it's just a tool. But you bet your ass the more automated cars become, the more options cops (and the state in general) will have to remotely take control of their operation. But cops can just as effectively be a problem for pedestrians, cyclists, riders of public transportation... Some of my worst police interactions have been on public transportation. They seem particularly keyed up and predisposed to assume you're poverty scum committing a crime in that context IME (BART police).
  - CM30 3y ago
    There are a few differences though: - Cops actually have to care about the justice system in some way, so won't usually take the car if it's not connected to a crime - Because of the above, there is at least theoretically a way to get it back via the legal system - They have to physically go and get the car - The car still physically works even if there's a court order/arrest warrant/whatever. With a company where you might 'rent' the car on the other hand: - There's no justice system aspect, and they can refuse service for any (non) reason. That could be anything from "we don't like you much" (perhaps because you exposed their CEO's dodgy behaviour or acted as a whistleblower) to "having you as a customer is a PR nightmare" (person on social media claimed you said/did something inappropriate) to "computer says no" (technical glitch, system downtime, etc). - Getting it back requires either enough social media outrage (like with Google account problems) or a costly lawsuit - They could either stop the car from working via remote means like disabling the account needed to login, or blacklist your address from the system so their vehicles don't stop there - If there's a problem, you're fubar. At best you can hack or jailbreak the system to get it working, at worst you have no vehicle at all

M2Ys4U 3y ago

>Do NOT give control of your home or domicile to tech giants. Even if you work for them. Especially if you work for them. And even more so if you are not a member of a trade union that will (help) protect you from your employer.