mstdn.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A general-purpose Mastodon server with a 500 character limit. All languages are welcome.

Administered by:

Server stats:

18K
active users

I remember trying to buy a TV that does not have "smart" functionality a few years ago. It was a chore. Today it seems impossible.

And not just TVs: ovens; refrigerators; dishwashers — all have "smart" options. In fact, it seems that more and more the available non-smart models are only the simpler ones, less performant in ways that are not related to any smart functionality missing.

My non-smart TV was available only with lower resolutions than "smart" models of the same brand.

1/🧵

@rysiek

your "smart" tv isn't smart anymore if you refuse to connect it to the internet

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

@ares I don't trust it not to connect to open WiFi by itself. Do you?

Also, cars already come with 4g modems and SIM cards, wanna bet TVs are somewhere down the line also?

@rysiek @ares
The real problem with #IoT is internet connectivity that:
- has global reach
- does not require any user authentication to connect (as in #wifi)
- is not user-controlled (cannot be switched off or checked to see if it is sending/receiving anything)

Currently, the #ecall system in cars fulfils all the above conditions and, unfortunately, is generally required by law in the EU.

@miklo @ares yup. I expect Smart TV manufacturers to start rolling out 4g modems and device SIM cards in the next few years. Can't have those pesky Pi Holes block off that sweet sweet data revenue stream!

@rysiek @ares If the unit cost of mass production of complete modules for 4g/5g communication already today does not exceed a few dollars, and the cost of data transmission over the life of the device can be included in its price, what will stop manufacturers from fitting communication (i.e. usage/user tracking) into every possible device that has some sort of power supply: white goods, hairdryer, toothbrush, etc.? Nothing will stop them except a strong law that would prohibit this .

@miklo @rysiek @ares This is it major goal of 5G.

The limitation that was the bottleneck with 4G was simultaneous connections per tower. If the 4G network were used in this way, the price per connection would soar as the network became overloaded.

With 5G, this is a minor issue, with each tower being able to handle an absurd number of connections.

@urusan @miklo @rysiek 5G technologies are designed to use multiple transport channels. Besides of traditional 5G towers, cable modems and *DSL devices are a part of the overall infrastructure, as those reduce the capacity issues in urban environments. First stage is mainly focused on phones using WiFi as much as possible (for individual customers themselves), but telco ISPs are also making those devices part of the mobile data infrastructure.

@rysiek @miklo @ares Mesh networks of home devices are already happening. Besides of Amazon's home devices creating open mesh network with any compatible device (across the walls to street and neighbours), there are similar in electricity measurement systems, solar panels, etc.

@autiomaa @rysiek @miklo @ares Yeah, and wifi-p in automotive probably is similarly problematic (even though I prefer that over UMTS-based connectivity).

@whvholst @rysiek @miklo @ares Funny part recently in the news was that most car tires have RFID tags that allow fingerprinting cars on the street. No need to use camera when industrial RFID reader is enough... 😓

@autiomaa @whvholst @rysiek @miklo @ares My decision/laziness to not get a car (or, as of yet, even a driving license) is vindicated once again.

@pettter @rysiek To be fair, if you have any mobile phone device, you are already sharing most of your movements in real time (at least to the telecom operator and either Google or Apple).

@autiomaa @rysiek Sure, I'm well aware. That's also bad, and I truly wish that alternative mobile OSs were more widespread and well-supported.

@autiomaa @rysiek @miklo @ares I wonder if you could hijack any of these networks to create a pirate mesh for tiny messages like texts?

@miklo @rysiek @ares ecall should only kick in after a sufficiently violent deceleration, and is in that sense "off" by default. But you're probably not wrong by being concerned about it.

@whvholst @miklo @ares no, but these are SIM cards in cars that keep them connected all the time and exposed to these kinds of shenanigans.