Yeah it's the internet of things ... NPR told me about this years ago.

"Parents urged to boycott VTech toys after hack

Cybersecurity experts have said parents should boycott or at least be cautious of VTech's electronic toys because of how it has handled a hack attack.

They gave the advice after it emerged that VTech's new terms and conditions state that parents must assume responsibility for future breaches.

More than 6.3 million children's accounts were affected by last year's breach, which gave the perpetrator access to photos and chat logs."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35532644

"There's also the issue of surveillance. If every product becomes connected then there's the potential for unbridled observation of users. If a connected fridge tracks food usage and consumption, takeaways could be targeted at hungry people who have no food. If a smartwatch can detect when you're having sex, what is to stop people with that data using it against the watches' wearer.

“In the future, intelligence services might use the [internet of things] for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials,” James Clapper, the US direction or national intelligence said in 2016. Wikileaks later claimed the CIA has been developing security exploits for a connected Samsung TV."

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/internet-of-things-what-is-explained-iot

Am I the only one that feels like there is likely a kill switch to immediately render you unable to keep fresh food, cook anything, heat/cool your home, or wash your clothes if you should become targeted as a dissenter?

"oh yeah...you must have been hacked by the Russians, we don't know anything about that".

The good news is you'd have to manually connect it to the internet, and wise decision not doing so. "The Internet of Things" has the equivalent of a rubber duck holding a squirt gun in terms of security, and are specifically sought after as weaknesses in a network. I would NEVER connect it.

I fear internet connectivity will become required to fix known issues eventually...issues purposefully put in place to get you to connect it. Hopefully I'm wrong and just being my usual paranoid self!

While washing cannabinoid-like material was detected in your fabrics. Your local authorities have been notified and will arrive shortly for questioning. Thank you for choosing General Electric!

If it's wireless, you're never really sure if it's connected to something or not. You can't just unplug a cord and be reassured.

hack into my [gas] oven

Anyone who's seen the first quarter of Fight Club knows why.

It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users. I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!

Here is link number 1 - Previous text "why"

^{Please PM /u/eganwall with issues or feedback! | Delete}

You’re describing your breaker box

Which is wired through a long range wireless smart meter.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10898802

I'm getting really tired of everything being capable of connecting to the internet. Oh but the convenience! And? It's things like this that slowly turn me into some sort of Luddite. We already know hackers can hack into the cars. What's going to stop them from hacking ovens, turning them on in hopes to burn down your house? Shut down your refrigerator to ruin your food.

My ma had to replace the A/C unit to her house and they installed a Smart A/C unit so you can control it from a phone app and the company has the ability to access the Control Panel to run diagnostics. After it was installed, she and I supposed that, considering we live in California, at what point will the State just access it and shut off our units during "peak hours" to save on electricity usage? It's not like they already do that in a sense with brownouts or blackouts.

Who I truly feel bad for are those who install home security systems that connect to the internet.

The majority of my countries houses have smart meters now though smart appliances outside of tvs aren't a major thing yet. My parents have their lighting hooked up so you can turn on and off with your voice as my mum is arthritic and it hurts her to get up and down too much.

I've got nothing outside a smart meter myself and probably won't ever get anything else

Unless it's forced upon you like the smart meter was.

This is how I have felt lately. I feel like a luddite/Quaker and new-age Amish all rolled into one.

We have enough technology to:

Harvest free energy from the sun/wind/tides

Fly using drones, which are powered from free energy.

Hydroponics that can be powered from free energy.

Water recycling facilities that cane be powered from free energy.

Yet, we spend our time and precious metals making a fucking washing machine that...I don't know, what does it even fucking do?

This 'convenience' excuse I hear all the time is just a marketing bullshit buzzword. People make out that they are super busy in their lives, but in reality all they want to do is finish their chores so they can sit in front of the idiot box and watch another "omgz super important sports match of the century : 5"

Within five years I want to be living on my own plot of land, off grid and self sufficient.

Go underground. That's probably the closest to "safe" you can be nowadays.

I've put thought into it. Heating, light, water, all easier underground. Unfortunately, excavating and building down is hella expensive.

Unless you believe the stories about hollow earth.

I used to think people with this complaint were just getting old. "Get with the times, old man. Change or die." Maybe I'm just old now, but it's getting ridiculous.

I can't think of a single use case for wanting to turn on my oven or laundry machines remotely.

It's the same issue of smart toasters or coffee makers - you have to be there to physically do something to it anyway, and for every case where you'd want to prepare, they have timers for that.

They even have paint with microphones in it. 1984 is already here.

Nanotechnology.

Ha! No they don't.

People buy this crap just so they have something to post on facebook. If you need to check the temperature of your veggie drawer, or the soak speed on you undies on your phone, you need to get a life.

Best comment on Reddit.

Problem is, it's becoming the only choice - I don't think you can buy a "dumb" appliance anymore, or won't be able to soon. Same for vehicles and phones.

I have a smart TV that is not hooked up to my wifi or any internet...it was cheaper than a regular TV, but I control what devices are connected in my house. Your point is still valid though, its getting harder.

A gas stove could be bad. No name agencies could shut off the pilot light then blow your house away.

Modern stoves don't have pilot lights, they use a piezo igniter (that clicking sound) that automatically engages whenever the gas is turned on.

So if one is worried about remote access to a stove the hacker (or whomever) would have to figure out a way to extinguish the flame before they could fill the house with gas.

Some stoves have a specific part of the dial where the piezo operates. If you start in the section outside of it, you could still do as I suggest. Not to say they won't have safety hardware preventions, but it could be modified.

implying the stove won't have this very function built in for this exact purpose

You can prepare your meal and put it in stove, start cooking remotely, just so it's done when you get home from work. So simple. Except you have a car accident or run into traffic jam, you might find that when you come home eventually that it's burned to a ground. Bummer. But oh much convenient!

/r/internetofshit

I hate these things. Honestly don't understand the point of them. What convenience do I really get from them? How do they really improve my life? They cost an arm and a leg extra and for what?

This has actually contributes to a lot of DDoS attacks. These appliances don't have good security. Hackers get into them and them make a lot of them bombard sites with traffic. They're bad news.

Imagine if they scan the water in the washer for _____. Illegal drugs, lack of glyphosate, whatever.

Never buy anything "smart".

it just a way to get stupid people to pay more, basic appliances can be found cheap, but many retailers wont sell them because of low profitability

Its only a matter of time before they will all be smart and connevt to internet. Doesnt mean you have to put your Wi-Fi password in though.

Although with 5g these companies could probably purchase bandwidth and access to tge 5g that's all over and circumvent that...hmmmfaraday cage your dryer...sad we may have to do that

Obligatory Silicon Valley clip