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My problem with Xiaomi is the absolutely crazy data gathering. I visited one of their mall stores of theirs and literally the only product (out of many) not re

My problem with Xiaomi is the absolutely crazy data gathering. I visited one of their mall stores of theirs and literally the only product (out of many) not requiring an app was some sort of shaving machine. A goddamn pole fan requiring an app! On the other hand, all modern cars seem to be pretty bad at this. Tesla cars appear to be a privacy nightmare.

dharmab 3y ago
You're not kidding about modern cars being a privacy nightmare: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/article... Some notable takeaways: - The car companies claim not only the owners' data, but the data of _any passengers_. I don't think people reasonably expect that sitting in a friend's car grants consent to collect data on them. - Almost no brands allow people to request their data be deleted. - Nissan claims the right to know their owner's sexual activity. Kia claims the right to know their owner's sex lives.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- kypro 3y ago
  > Nissan claims the right to know their owner's sexual activity. Kia claims the right to know their owner's sex lives. I'd be interested in reading more about this if you have a source?
  - vardump 3y ago
    Probably only to prevent those activities during driving. I doubt they have any other interest.
    - justinl33 3y ago
      maybe advertising a bigger car for an anticipated baby?
      - BizarroLand 3y ago
        And selling data on people engaging in actions likely to cause a baby to people who sell baby stuff.
        justinl33 3y ago
        Scary to think about but most likely already happening through other sensors
  - dharmab 3y ago
    https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/nissan/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/nissan/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/kia/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/kia/
- jwestbury 3y ago
  > - Almost no brands allow people to request their data be deleted. I assume this has an implicit "in the USA"? Trying this in Europe would be an awfully bad idea -- GDPR has teeth, unlike most American consumer protection regulations.
novok 3y ago
This is the behavior of pretty much all chinese tech with internet connected software / hardware. They are next level bad in general.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
pelorat 3y ago
They are a global brand now. If you use their apps in Europe you are presented with the choice of cloud locations (Germany) and they do comply with the GDPR. There are far worse actors out there then Xiaomi.
stavros 3y ago
Unfortunately, I don't expect to ever again be able to buy a car I don't have to cut the antenna from.
- makeitdouble 3y ago
  I'd expect "cutting the antenna" to come with severe insurance penalties at some point. PS: Or the vehicle goes into emergency mode and you can still drive but only with hazard lights on.
  - stavros 3y ago
    Why would there be insurance penalties if my car can't talk to its servers? Or why would a car go into emergency mode every time I took a holiday up in the mountains?
    - snypher 3y ago
      Why not? It's not like the end user will have a choice. The manufacturer will take whatever action it likes.
    - andsoitis 3y ago
      > Why would there be insurance penalties if my car can't talk to its servers? Driving patterns indicate risk profile.
makeitdouble 3y ago
They're skating where the puck is. Realistically, even iot wall sockets and switch controllers are now a well served market. Is there any electrical appliance that has no merit being externally controllable, and thus a potential data source? We'd need Synology to gain way more market power than Apple and Google (and Xiaomi and every other global makers) to get a full user managed hub instead of the cloud first approach we have now.
geckbench 3y ago
[dead]
squarefoot 3y ago
> My problem with Xiaomi is the absolutely crazy data gathering. [...] On the other hand, all modern cars seem to be pretty bad at this. Exactly. We'll hardly find one car, or for that matter any object with enough electronics on board which is both closed and connected, that doesn't use the technology to gather data on the user. Spying is a profitable business nobody in the industry can resist to.

dharmab 3y ago

You're not kidding about modern cars being a privacy nightmare: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/article... Some notable takeaways: - The car companies claim not only the owners' data, but the data of _any passengers_. I don't think people reasonably expect that sitting in a friend's car grants consent to collect data on them. - Almost no brands allow people to request their data be deleted. - Nissan claims the right to know their owner's sexual activity. Kia claims the right to know their owner's sex lives.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
kypro 3y ago
> Nissan claims the right to know their owner's sexual activity. Kia claims the right to know their owner's sex lives. I'd be interested in reading more about this if you have a source?
- vardump 3y ago
  Probably only to prevent those activities during driving. I doubt they have any other interest.
  - justinl33 3y ago
    maybe advertising a bigger car for an anticipated baby?
    - BizarroLand 3y ago
      And selling data on people engaging in actions likely to cause a baby to people who sell baby stuff.
      - justinl33 3y ago
        Scary to think about but most likely already happening through other sensors
- dharmab 3y ago
  https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/nissan/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/nissan/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/kia/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/kia/
jwestbury 3y ago
> - Almost no brands allow people to request their data be deleted. I assume this has an implicit "in the USA"? Trying this in Europe would be an awfully bad idea -- GDPR has teeth, unlike most American consumer protection regulations.

novok 3y ago

This is the behavior of pretty much all chinese tech with internet connected software / hardware. They are next level bad in general.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

pelorat 3y ago

They are a global brand now. If you use their apps in Europe you are presented with the choice of cloud locations (Germany) and they do comply with the GDPR. There are far worse actors out there then Xiaomi.

stavros 3y ago

Unfortunately, I don't expect to ever again be able to buy a car I don't have to cut the antenna from.

makeitdouble 3y ago
I'd expect "cutting the antenna" to come with severe insurance penalties at some point. PS: Or the vehicle goes into emergency mode and you can still drive but only with hazard lights on.
- stavros 3y ago
  Why would there be insurance penalties if my car can't talk to its servers? Or why would a car go into emergency mode every time I took a holiday up in the mountains?
  - snypher 3y ago
    Why not? It's not like the end user will have a choice. The manufacturer will take whatever action it likes.
  - andsoitis 3y ago
    > Why would there be insurance penalties if my car can't talk to its servers? Driving patterns indicate risk profile.

makeitdouble 3y ago

They're skating where the puck is. Realistically, even iot wall sockets and switch controllers are now a well served market. Is there any electrical appliance that has no merit being externally controllable, and thus a potential data source? We'd need Synology to gain way more market power than Apple and Google (and Xiaomi and every other global makers) to get a full user managed hub instead of the cloud first approach we have now.

geckbench 3y ago

[dead]

squarefoot 3y ago

> My problem with Xiaomi is the absolutely crazy data gathering. [...] On the other hand, all modern cars seem to be pretty bad at this. Exactly. We'll hardly find one car, or for that matter any object with enough electronics on board which is both closed and connected, that doesn't use the technology to gather data on the user. Spying is a profitable business nobody in the industry can resist to.