Logitech Will Restore Third-Party Harmony Home Automation (theverge.com)

After issuing a firmware update that reportedly cut off local access for Harmony Hubs, Logitech says it will offer yet another update to undo the move and restore local network control. The Verge reports: While Logitech originally defended its move to make the Harmony Hub unresponsive to third-party home automation software -- arguing that the private APIs were never meant to be used for anything except setting up the Harmony Hub for the first time, and that keeping them around meant maintaining a security hole -- Logitech has now relented, saying it's "working to provide a solution for those who still want access despite the inherent security risks involved." That solution is basically an about-face: Logitech will undo the change it made in the first place by restoring access to XMPP local controls with a new update, so that third-party home automation software like Home Assistant can see and operate the Hub over your local network. Logitech's calling it a "XMPP beta program" for now, and says it'll make the update available to all Harmony customers in January as well.

Comments

Nonsense

[markdavis]

>"arguing that the private APIs were never meant to be used for anything except setting up the Harmony Hub for the first time, and that keeping them around meant maintaining a security hole"

That is just nonsense. If they only thought that then they should have:

1) Told users exactly what they were going to do and why.
2) Turn it off by default after the update.
3) Put in an option in setup to turn it back on, locally only.
4) Document how to turn it on and why/how it could be dangerous.
5) Perhaps add filters or controls to help restrict access when it is on.