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Smart Lights, Speakers, Thermostats, Cameras and Other IoT Devices Are Being Increasingly Used as a Means For Harassment, Monitoring, and Revenge (nytimes.com)
Smart home devices are supposed to bring convenience to people's lives, but increasingly, their unintended consequences are surfacing, and are being exploited to harass others, an investigation by The New York Times has found. [Editor's note: the link maybe paywalled; syndicated source.] From the report: In more than 30 interviews with The New York Times, domestic abuse victims, their lawyers, shelter workers and emergency responders described how the technology was becoming an alarming new tool. Abusers -- using apps on their smartphones, which are connected to the internet-enabled devices -- would remotely control everyday objects in the home, sometimes to watch and listen, other times to scare or show power. Even after a partner had left the home, the devices often stayed and continued to be used to intimidate and confuse.
For victims and emergency responders, the experiences were often aggravated by a lack of knowledge about how smart technology works, how much power the other person had over the devices, how to legally deal with the behavior and how to make it stop. "People have started to raise their hands in trainings and ask what to do about this," Erica Olsen, director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said of sessions she holds about technology and abuse. She said she was wary of discussing the misuse of emerging technologies because "we don't want to introduce the idea to the world, but now that it's become so prevalent, the cat's out of the bag."
For victims and emergency responders, the experiences were often aggravated by a lack of knowledge about how smart technology works, how much power the other person had over the devices, how to legally deal with the behavior and how to make it stop. "People have started to raise their hands in trainings and ask what to do about this," Erica Olsen, director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said of sessions she holds about technology and abuse. She said she was wary of discussing the misuse of emerging technologies because "we don't want to introduce the idea to the world, but now that it's become so prevalent, the cat's out of the bag."
Internet of Crap. They usually are some cheap things released onto the market without serious security protection(who didn't see THAT coming ?). I'll never use them.
Hate to victim blame, but anyone who buys an IoT thingy and actually plugs it in to the internet is all but asking for it. If it can't do it's job not connected, don't buy it, and if it does, don't connect it.
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You have 2 competitors and one has no security, they don't sell any products and the bar is raised.
Wtf is 2018.
You are right, it is 2018. So you have 100 competitors and one has security but costs more than the other 99 knockoffs that all came from the same factory. They don't sell any products and go out of business. That is 2018.
"Increasingly", "many", "more"
How many? How do you know?
It makes a great story, but "many" of these kinds of stories don't have much to back them up, as to the size of the problem.
It might be helpful to say "X percent of DV cases in {area} in 2017 involved smart home devices" or something.
Unplug the bad device from the network... as in unplug that wire that isn't power. No wire because WiFi?... realistically 99% of the IoT stuff is WiFi, do this to keep it disconnected:
1. Change the password on your WiFi router, and do not update it on your IoT devices.
2. If you don't know how to do that, throw away your old WiFi router and buy a new one, which will force you to make a new password.
in my house. Ever. Working IT security for years and understanding how this stuff works has put me off of it long before Nest, Echo, Google Home, et al ever made the scene. To knowingly allow blatant spies into you midst is a sign of absolute carelessness. No one needs their house to be "automated" unless they're handicapped. My Honeywell HVAC system is simply good enough. I don't need or want an app to control anything in my home. I don't want or need a "connected' home. Being tethered to my on-call mobile phone is bad enough. When I'm home, I want to be away from connectivity as a whole unless I'm gaming.
Well, they do often cause physical and psychological harm....?
I think US citizens should have the right to do with their bodies as they wish, however.
And we should protect our borders from those committing the crime of crossing illegally...if they start right off breaking the law, then it would seem logical they don't have qualms about breaking other laws here.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Moralistic moronic nonsense. The law is just a set of words written by a bunch of old farts who managed to con dumb people into voting for them.
By your argument, we should shoot speeders and pot smokers -- they've already broken the law, so they're more likely to commit murder. Might as well prevent crime before it happens.
I think the inverse is actually true with illegal immigrants. They're less likely to commit violent crimes because the consequences can often be dire. Not only jail, but deportation back to a war-torn country or one where gangs are looking to kill them.