About Me

I am a professional software developer who has embraced the Android platform.

While I'm generally easy going, the latest web trends embracing the Internet Of Things (IoT) alarm me. More and more vendors are turning toward web based applications to manage their products, and using them to invade our homes. Services like Belkin/Wemo, RadioThermostat, and home security and automation suites like Rogers and Time/Warner increase your risk. The devices themselves become trojan horses - they open connections to the vendors cloud service (internet servers) allowing them to become gateways into your private network.

What's the risk? I don't want to start over if the service is cancelled, starts invading my privacy by tracking me, or when the vendor decides to raise their fees, change their privacy agreement, or starts displaying annoying advertising. I don't want to have my home stop working if the vendor's service goes offline or I lose my internet connection. And worst of all, if the vendor hires the wrong person, gets hacked, or just has poor security procedures, my home, privacy, and even my home network can fall into the wrong hands.

There are more than a few reports like this: Belkin Wemo leaks devices. Even more frightening are the new (inexpensive) devices originating from Asia that do not have a local API. They connect ONLY through cloud servers owned by companies in countries without strong privacy laws, and they collect your personal information when connecting (email id, wifi password) even if you disable remote access.

We need to push vendors into providing IoT devices that work over hubs that we control ourselves, that we can use to limit the invasion of privacy these devices pose.