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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 day ago by spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world

126 comments fedilink hide all child comments

An engineer got curious about how his iLife A11 smart vacuum worked and monitored the network traffic coming from the device. That’s when he noticed it was constantly sending logs and telemetry data to the manufacturer — something he hadn't consented to. The user, Harishankar, decided to block the telemetry servers' IP addresses on his network, while keeping the firmware and OTA servers open. While his smart gadget worked for a while, it just refused to turn on soon after. After a lengthy investigation, he discovered that a remote kill command had been issued to his device.

(page 3) 26 comments

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[–] stiffyGlitch@lemmy.world -2 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

what...? how much money did that Roomba cost for him to spend that much time and effort on recoding it?!

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[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

I have a standard vacuum. I spend about 10 minutes a day vacuuming. Miele has no telemetry whatsoever lol

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I spend about 10 minutes a day vacuuming

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 0 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Yes and the point being spending 300$+ to eliminate 10 minutes a day is absolutely hilarious.

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[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago (15 children)

As a layman, can someone explain what the ramifications of smart devices sharing your data is. I know it’s bad, but I don’t understand why it’s bad and how it’s used against you.

[–] underisk@lemmy.ml 0 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Email me the blueprints to your house, your address, name, and your favorite hobbies and I will tell you the answer.

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[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com -5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

That's like a month old news article

No one should be outraged. That is how all robovacs are working - use LIDAR to map area -> send back to server -> server calculates optimal cleaning route -> sends back info to vac -> vac cleans. Vac cant ping back to server - server thinks vac is dead. No killswitch is needed.

Also, app is not a necessity except we are forced to use it. But many would not like to lose an ability to track progress or start and stop cleaning from their phone outside of the home network. For these features, app and external server is a must.

The only real issue with robo vacs is that it is an IoT device. We should make manufacturers and brands to let us choose if we want to selfhost their software. But that would never happen.

This article IMO is full of bs and ragebait.

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