Er maybe it’s not smart to have smart electronics after all. We’re being spied on, tracked and controlled. Never have I wanted so badly to live off grid in the bush.
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People SIGN UP FOR THIS!!
Some municipalities offer a slightly reduced rate where YOU AUTHORIZE the utility to reduce the temperature or hot water temperature remotely, in return for saving ~$10/month
Odds are no networks were hacked. People signed up, enjoyed the cost savings and are now bitching when the rights they sold, are being exercised
Even here in Canada we are having almost record breaking heat ( 1 degree off of records set in the 20s and 30s) There is definitely something going on with this heat.
Yup.we call it summer.
It isnt even summer yet. Lol
Nope. Just Spring here in the desert. 118 yesterday. Got my smart thermostat set to 71 right now.
I am a VP of Tech for an energy services company. This is nominally NOT about smart thermostats. This is happening because these idiot families signed up for a program where they ALLOWED the energy company to do this. It's literally right in the article:
In the industry we call this "Demand Response", and normally you get paid for it. It's actually a very mutually-beneficial program for industrial companies. I would not advise residential customers to do this (hence why I called them idiots).
So for them to turn around and belly-ache about smart thermostats is uneducated at best and self-serving+untruthful at worst.
If it’s online the alphabet agencies have access to it. Ever read Wikileaks? This isn’t far fetched sci-fi bullshit. I’m not saying the doorbell is out to get people....it’s the fuckin spooks monitoring ever breath you take.
Perhaps not everyone who has this shit is being monitored, but everyone who has this shit has the potential to be monitored. Cell phones are a given. Easy to trace and hack. Automobile computers and satellite navigation are vulnerable. All tech has back doors.
I never said anything about AI, but I believe you are way behind with your beliefs on our alphabet agencies’ capabilities. The NSA collects everything. Everything. Tests, emails, communications, etc. The Utah data center is 1 million sq ft. Yes, one fuckin million sq ft. Why would they need so much room? Wake up dude. The Matrix has you.
You are a bitch. A shill pussy bitch.
Well, maybe your ring camera won't, but if they decide to raise thermostats then what's stopping them from disabling the thermostat or raising it to a dangerous temperature in the name of "saving energy"? Hundreds of old people die from heatwaves every year. This could be another Cuomo old home-type plan to cull more of our senior citizens. Knowing all we know about these psychopaths in power, how can you not be a little skeptical?
If you need to resort to name calling, you've lost the argument.
Go ahead and defend ERCOT. They did such a bang up job last winter after all.
yet here we all are on our smartphones and laptops...
I don't even have a smart phone. Don't need Mr. and Mrs. Fed keeping tabs on my location. Just wait till they jam Fedcoin down our throats.
I picked up a Honeywell when I bought this house. It's nice to be able to control it via web and entering the schedule is a breeze compared to entering on the unit but now that I know the CCP used them to help hack the election I wish I could type in messages to the CCP overlords on it. I really need about a squad of CCP Blue Helmets to show up in the neighborhood. Recycling out some older ammo would be good.
HomeAssisstant or nothing
That whole "smart" grid and apparatus needs to go.
There is an x files episode about smart technology going postal, it's a pretty scary episode because it's actually possible.
There was a cool segment in an episode of Mr. Robot where they hacked a smart home:
https://youtu.be/lOra8N-T46I
Not a surprise at all.
Just wait until they decide grandma and grandpa don't need their oxygen anymore.... they'll claim a terrible error was made and or YOU made the error setting up crap for your smart meter
The commies used a thermostats to hack the election in some counties
retards put the shit in their houses lmao
Yuuuuup. My dumbass landlord has an Alexa that controls the lights, the thermostat is a sMaRt one as well, and he has the Ring doorbell.
Cuz his Insurance Company gave him a dollar/month credit.
Get window units and make them fight it out. We have window units to help our ancient AC along and they’re cheap.
I went to dinner and a swim at a house like that last weekend. Ring cameras, Amazon lock box on the porch, 'Alexa! Play Taylor Swift' uggghhhh. Everything was beige. The homeowners and their children were so materialistic and disingenuous. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
As a side note, how is it that these South Texas people can't even tolerate 80°?
Cuz they’re from California.
Reminds me of the "Smart Pipe" parody infomercial.
I love messing with Alexa by asking her the various weight to fuel/distance ratios a Beechcraft Super King Air gets from El Salvador to Colombia depending on how many Kilos and then how much airfare is from San Diego to El Salvador.
Agree with everyone here. These supposed convienent devices have people spending endless time adjusting things on their phone and asking some machine to do something your hand could do quicker... it’s madness. Poor silly kids.
You don't have to live off the grid, just don't have any "smart technology" around.
Amazon Sidewalk
Being spied on? You don't know the half of it.
Reminds me of some other bio weapon, can’t quite put my tongue on it while my face slurs and sluffs from the palsy. The drool burns like acid
Said the same to my wife today
The old joke goes:
The Tech Enthusiast: My entire house is wired up. I can start my washing machine from work, open the garage door from across town with an app, and see who's at my front door from Hawaii. I love technology!
The IT Department Guy from your company: The most up to date machine I own is a printer from 2014, and I keep a shotgun handy should it start making a noise it's not supposed to.
I watched 2001 A Space Odyssey when I was a kid and so I never trusted this "smart" stuff. Alexa and Siri and all this crap has always reminded me of HAL.
they had a bunch of movies then as well about "snart" houses killing the families
Alexa, unlock the garage doors.
I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that.
Daisy, Daisy .....
Me too, fren. When those Alexa things came out it's pretty much a given that it's always listening whether you want it to or not. I'm sure the spooks loved that.
Who knew that in the 21st century people would voluntarily be putting listening devices in their homes and filling out personal dossiers for public consumption?
Yeah it makes no sense to me. My cell phone provider was giving them away for free and my sister got an extra because she already bought one and she tried to give it toi me. I was like no thanks, even if I didnt want things listening to me I dont wanna talk to a robot like its a human.
I always thought Alexa was creepy. I never like my cell phone either. Only bring it with me if I have too.
Gave me two when I bought my house.
My distrust of smart homes comes from a Source a bit older than 2001, no mater how good it was.
Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke could both see the future.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Veldt_(short_story)
You probably typed that out on a smart phone.
No. No one could pay me enough to use that stuff.
When I was about 10 years old I watched an Outer Limits program where no one had any privacy at all...Big Brother watched them 24/7 through electronic monitors in their homes and eyes in the sky. I wondered then how that situation could happen and now I know: They did it to themselves.
Y’all are virtue signaling mofos. If you have a smart phone connected to the internet, that’s no different than having an Alexa or whatever. Just assume everything you say is being saved in the cloud to be used against you 5, 10, or 20 years into the future.
Your virtue signaling comment is erroneous and unwarranted because I still use a landline and don't have any type of cell phone, smart or otherwise.
So you're a luddite.
It is a little different. You can disable microphone permission for apps that would be spying on you
No it is no different. You actually trust your phone to do what you think you set it to do?
Same with Alexa
Outer Limits was the BEST then ?
Nope, I've known for decades this was coming. I guess I thought we all knew this was spyware.
I graduated from high school in 1984, so I guess that makes me Gen X. Orwell's 1984 and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 were required reading. I was also heavily influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I saw when I was probably age 10. I've always been highly skeptical and I marvel at people who can sail through life completely unbothered by the shit I see everywhere.
I freaked out some of my in-lawswhen I visited them and discovered they had one of these spy boxes.
They didn't take what I was saying seriously, so I just said 'Alexa, turn off your microphone'. It responded by saying I could turn the power off if I liked.
You should have seen their faces, priceless. Of course, the fucking dingbats still have it as far as I'm aware.
Same experience with relatives.
Do you carry a smartphone with you?
I don't even own one, so no.
I've installed a lot of ring doorbells, wireless camera systems, smart thermostats, wireless surround sound, and wireless satellite systems. Most of the higher end houses have had all of the above. People have no clue, they think they are the greatest inventions ever. Ive also had people straight up saying yea I want this installed so I can see what my parents are up too because they no longer live there or I want to make sure my mom isn't dating so and so. One guy wanted to make sure his dad wasn't buying booze and that he went for a daily walk. The son would stop by the house every afternoon to berate the father. The father couldn't figure out how his son knew he had been lying about drinking and not living a healthy lifestyle. Ive asked are you really ok with spying on your parents and got the yep its for their own good. The older generation has no clue. I could see if they talked to their parents and their parents said hey i want you to install it so you can see if I fall down but a lot these people are straight up creeps. Imagine what someone with nefarious intentions could do with all that info.
To be clear: "Smart" stuff are pretty nifty inventions, and in an ideal world would be pretty cool.
Unfortunately trust is being placed in companies that are the enemies of the population.
I have a smart thermostat ... it isn't connected to the internet though :-) ... I got it for free. I don't think that Nests have any mics or cameras in them too.
I agree that smart home stuff would be pretty frigging rad if it wasn't made to spy on people. Still, there are ways to use "smart" stuff w/o having to connect them to the internet.
I can't wait to get my new windows personally ... I'm adding motors to them. If it's pleasant out, they'll automatically open. If it starts to rain or if it is miserable out, they'll close and the AC will kick on. Two reasons I want to do this :
You could get the windows that push out and upward, which would allow you to keep them open in the rain since the window deflects them away. Unless humidity is a factor or you don't like available styles of course
Shit our company has management cams all over the place. Las vegas
I mean what do you think your phone is?
my phone is not smart, and it has a removable battery.
Oh, same as mine!
I worked in IT for a while, it gives you an appreciation for less integrated devices.
I've always hated my smart phone. Only have it when I'm separated from my husband and we need to keep in touch, i.e. shopping mall. Otherwise, I never use it.
It's still a microphone, camera, GPS tracker, motion detector, and text snooper whenever you have the battery in...
Even at it's most basic form even an old school flip phone is an NSA/FBI/CIA wet dream.
Which is why I hardly ever tote it around with me :)
it really is shocking how much that little phone can do, even the older ones.
i grew up with people who were connected, and they wouldn't even talk in the same room as a plug in rotary dial wall phone.
i can't imagine what they would have thought about how careless people these days are with their personal and private information.
It still shocks me how ignorant people are. I've been aware of this stuff since '95-ish, and it only ever gets more automated and intrusive.
I remember when pagers first came out, and cops started using payphones to monitor the drug trade (mostly small scale weed sales).
That was my first real wakeup call when my uncles all said "see kid we told you".
Don you remove the battery between calls?
Not always, but then I don't really use it very much either, so it's left in an outside office most of the time.