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Manufacturer issues remote kill command to disable smart vacuum after engineer blocks it from collecting data — user revives it with custom hardware and Python scripts to run offline (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/privacy@programming.dev
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An engineer discovered that the manufacturer can remotely brick his smart vacuum for not collecting data.

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[–] 46 points 1 year ago (8 children)

It doesn't appear that anything is being done about this. I imagine there are many more devices pulling similar shit (sending personal data they collect back to their data centers without consent)... It just bothers me that there's doesn't seem to be any pushback whatsoever in cases like this. Not that i need or use a robot vac but I'm sure this type of data collection is hardly limited to them

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  • [–] 29 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Even worse still, if you don’t allow them this intrusive data, they remotely brick the device you own.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    There needs to be a law stating companies MUST notify you that "this product won't work if data collection is disabled" on the outside of the box

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Lol sure, "let them do whatever they want but it should be ILLEGAL not to write it on the box!"

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago*

    No no, I absolutely agree that shit like this shouldn't be allowed in the first place. But the issue is most people I've met genuinely do not care. They are okay with the amount of data being collected by their corporate overlords.

    At the very least stating that a product won't work if it isn't connected to the internet allows consumers who do give a shit to know what type of product they're dealing with.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    It doesn’t appear that anything is being done about this.

    Something has already been done about this: https://valetudo.cloud/

    The "iLife" robot in the article is based on the 3irobotix CRL-200S, a "white label" unit that a bunch of brands sold as their own, up to and including Xiaomi, Viomi, Conga, Cecotec, Proscenic, and even Wyze. I have the Wyze version (the only one sold in the US), which will be getting Valetudo, but I kinda bricked it while attempting to root it. Luckily the motherboards are cheap, I picked up a "new" one for $15. Just waiting for it to show up.

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