***Just for fun - Amazon Alexa***

So I may just be paranoid but anyone else have issues with a open microphone be in your home? I also will not participate in home DNA testing... I think a lot of this stuff will be a issue down the road, maybe long after im gone but I dont want to help anyone now and only automation will be done with a PLC and me pushing a HMI button.

Home Assistant is an open-source home automation project that includes support for popular control platforms like the Raspberry Pi, and consumer products like Nest and Hue.

I understand it can also be integrated with Alexa and Google Assistant.

https://www.home-assistant.io/

I don't use it myself, because my home is very small and mostly runs on 12V accessories. But I've got a couple of clients and colleagues who excitedly describe the newest things they have automated. Backyard chicken coops are evidently a popular subject.

geniusintraining said:

So I may just be paranoid but anyone else have issues with a open microphone be in your home?

Click to expand...

What do you know??? Something we agree with.
The weirdest I've seen is my wife that swears that her phone is listening to her (which may be the case) despite every setting where that could happen being turned off and pestering me to buy an Alexa which is purposely made to listen to what you say.

One product I do swear by is my Ring doorbell. Trips to the post office to collect my parcels have stopped completely since I installed it.

cardosocea said:

One product I do swear by is my Ring doorbell..

Click to expand...

I have a couple and I have a couple flood lights, they are great.... I also have Simplisafe, its a great piece of mind, not sure if you can get Simplisafe on that side of the pond but its great here

geniusintraining So I may just be paranoid but anyone else have issues with a open microphone be in your home? I also will not participate in home DNA testing... I think a lot of this stuff will be a issue down the road, maybe long after im gone but I dont want to help anyone now and only automation will be done with a PLC and me pushing a HMI button.

Click to expand...

Amen to that.
Just bought a new house and this is a must.
"only automation will be done with a PLC and me pushing a HMI button" On a air gapped network.
It's so tempting with all the great fancy things that I provided on the market. But I just can't have those with any peace of mind I'm an electrician first off so Wireless is out of the question. New firmware update! Hey why does my house not work! Stand-alone wired system is the only way I'll go with any home automation.

I bought a Wyze home camera to play with.

It is very likely that these are part of a huge Chinese espionage system. They are suspiciously cheaper than the competition, integrate with your smartphone directly instead of having a Web portal, and are well known to make multiple attempts to circumvent your home network security to contact servers in China.

So I'm both interested in seeing how it behaves (with a burner phone and a captive network) and seeing if I can outsmart it to make it work just for me.

If the Chinese really want to look at my porch, I suppose they can look at my porch.

I got a few Yi Home cameras. It's similar in price to Wyze. As for spying/security concerns, the big name or price doesn't necessary mean better. Sony had a cam that got firmware with default password that can not be change, for example.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/12/researchers-find-fresh-fodder-for-iot-attack-cannons/

I guess I'm relying on security researchers out there and use some common sense on placement of these things.

All this spying is concerning, I agree. It's all done for marketing and advertising anyway. I think if you're wise to that, then I can live with it.

If I'm important enough to spy on for any other reasons? Then I take that as a compliment! lol...

My Mrs and I have already proven that our phones are listening. It's funny how we see facebook ads for products we talk about. Sometimes we talk about stuff we're not interested in just to prove it...

leem2209 said:

My Mrs and I have already proven that our phones are listening. It's funny how we see facebook ads for products we talk about. Sometimes we talk about stuff we're not interested in just to prove it...

Click to expand...

Well, Facebook is a given isn't it?

Did you opt to let Android "help you get a better user experience" when you setup your phone ?

I have an instinctive aversion to sharing my life with online media and gadgets and huge corporations that only want to exploit me.
The recent scandals only shows us that the world has been naive when thinking that these corporations are "nice".

I have noticed recently if I am on a vendors shopping site and on that site search for "tool backpack", then suddenly I get advertisments for tool backpacks on all the other websites that I visit. I dont know if it is the browser that hijacks my search input and send it to google or someone else (I use Firefox), or if the websites just share the users searches with google . I dont like that they share my possibly private seach phrases with a 3rd party witout my consent.

Call me old-fashioned, or a contrarian old man, but I dont use Facebook or Twitter or any other such media.
And I would never install a microphone in my own home to record what I say and send it to a remote server out of my control.

After having watched "Black Mirror" series on Netflix, I experience similar aversions to gadgets like that.

JesperMP said:

Call me old-fashioned, or a contrarian old man, but I dont use Facebook or Twitter or any other such media.

Click to expand...

I agree, the only exception is when dealing with complaints. Send them an email or try to call to resolve some issue and a lot of companies will flat out ignore you.

Post it to Twitter or Facebook and a lot will respond nicely immediately. Luckily, the wife deals with that.

What do you think of the Z-wave devices?

JesperMP said:

Call me old-fashioned, or a contrarian old man, but I dont use Facebook or Twitter or any other such media.

Click to expand...

I just don't have the need to tell everyone where I am going, what I am planning to do, what my menu for dinner is or any personal details about me or my family.
I created a Facebook account a few years ago and couldn't think of anything I wanted to post to the world, so I changed all the details on the account & posted a bunch of weird and unusual 'thoughts' I could think up.

cardosocea said:

try to call to resolve some issue....

Click to expand...

It amazes me on how people are afraid to pick up the phone and call anymore, I have customers say "I sent you 3 emails"...whats wrong with the phone? you can still make a phone call on a 'smartphone' last I checked and same here no twitter, facebook or any other that pop's up, the only one I use is PLCTalk.net