this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2025
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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 week ago by spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world
145 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.

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[–] GreenShimada@lemmy.world 207 points 1 week ago (17 children)

The fact that this isn't considered outright fraud is disturbing. This person OWNS the device, yes? They're not leasing it.

FFS, this should be illegal.

[–] Zier@fedia.io 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There needs to be a huge neon orange warning on the Front of these products that explains, clearly, that you don't own it, your privacy will be invaded and the company can disable it at anytime. This will stop people from buying this garbage, and hopefully companies will stop if they want our money.

My life rule is, if it says Smart on it, it's never going to be smart. It will always cause trouble.

[–] GreenShimada@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

IMO "Smart" refers to the lawyers that got paid to write a 900-page TOS that lets a company do whatever they want.

[–] Zier@fedia.io 1 points 1 week ago

No that's called "smarmy".

[–] dirthawker0@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

And, unfortunately, a 900 page TOS guarantees that the average consumer never reads it.

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