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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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[–] 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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