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LG Threatens To Put Wi-Fi in Every Appliance it Introduces in 2017 (arstechnica.com)

Posted by msmash on from the Wi-Fi-everywhere dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: During the company's CES press conference today, LG marketing VP David VanderWaal says that "starting this year" all of LG's home appliances will feature "advanced Wi-Fi connectivity." One of the flagship appliances that will make good on this promise is the Smart Instaview Refrigerator, a webOS-powered Internet-connected fridge that among other things supports integration with Amazon's Alexa service.

9 of 376 comments (clear)

  1. Thank you LG! by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For making my shopping easier. With all the choices out there, I can just cross LG off the list of anything I'd own.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Thank you LG! by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm starting to worry that I'm going to have to wrap my house in a Faraday cage in a few years just to prevent a Maximum Overdrive-style attack from my own fucking appliances

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    2. Re:Thank you LG! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unfortunately, these things will sell really well.

      You already see everyone crowded around the Samsung fridge with LCD display in the shop. Consumers don't think through the security implications, they just see something that looks like the cool stuff they see in Hollywood movies and want to own it because consumerism is how people fulfil themselves these days.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Thank you LG! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sure they'll have thought of this. The refridgeration probably won't start running until after it's phoned home and confirmed its ability to spy on you with LG's servers.

    4. Re: Thank you LG! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm sure a wifi enabled shoehorn is coming too

  2. Re:I don't see where the "threat" is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The "threat" comes when somebody with an exploit kit and a laptop drives by and turns your fridge into a ransomeware tool that spoils your food and posts naked photos of you getting up for a midnight snack on reddit.

  3. Re:I don't see where the "threat" is... by Notabadguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, it is a threat - if a device can be connected to, it's exposed to compromise.

    I want my fridge to keep my milk, meet and liquor cold. I do not want it to tell me anything, ever. I do not want it to engage with me, to use my bandwidth, to report back to LG on my shopping habits, to fill out a grocery list, or do ANYTHING except serve as a platform to chill the things I desire chilled.

    Bad enough that pacemakers are getting hacked and hospital networks are getting shut down - I have zero interest in furthering this stupid fucking push to make everything available for someone else to exploit.

  4. Re:I don't see where the "threat" is... by aix+tom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder if have any idea in their deranged mind to *lower* the cost of the fridge, but require a monthly subscription for it to work.
    Which would open up an opportunity for black-marked "DRM-Removed" household appliances....... "Download 12 month of refrigeration from piratebay!!!"

  5. No! Not the toaster! by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny

    My wife asked me why I carried my gun around the house.

    "Decepticons", I replied.

    She laughed. I laughed. The toaster laughed. I shot the toaster.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.