In my defence, I had put them in the same bucket in my brain.

Although I tend to put all of them in the same bucket given enough time, including the company I am working for...
My simple response to a net connected device is to drop them a mail asking whether the appliance will work its whole life without requiring an internet connected activation and if I have either no response, or some "we care for customer" bs, then I just don't buy.
The underside of a rock sometimes feels much better.