this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2026
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It is so difficult to find modern electronics without telemetry and ads. Smartphones, laptops, TVs, home routers, security cameras, cars, game consoles, e-readers, projectors, 3D printers, fitness trackers, speakers, and even some printers. Why can’t customers be free from this data collection and advertising? It’s not that we don’t care about it. There simply aren’t many alternatives, and the few that do exist are either more expensive or offer fewer features. Seriously, we need a list of products we can buy and use directly without worrying about telemetry or advertising.

The following list is updated at https://lemmy.ml/post/52706206. Please note that this list may contain errors.

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Last I checked (which, admittedly, was a few years ago) I literally couldn't find any security cameras that weren't compromised in some way. The only options are basically:

  • Consumer models tied to "cloud" services
  • Generic Chinese ONVIF cameras that probably phone home to who knows where unless you firewall them off from the Internet
  • ONVIF cameras that might have a slightly better reputation than the previous category but are only sold through security system installers, not normal retail channels
  • Analog (not IP) cameras that you hook up via coaxial cable
  • Building your own goddamn camera from scratch with a Raspberry Pi or something

It's ridiculous!


For TVs, there used to be the option of Sceptre dumb TVs, but even those have disappeared from the market in the last year or so.


I've been looking for a smartwatch/fitness tracker (and a bike computer, which is kind of a similar category) and the pickings seem very slim there, too. There's the Pebble and the PineTime, which are open but maybe lack some of the sensors one might want in a fitness tracker, and there's stuff that's intended to be proprietary but supported by Gadgetbridge (e.g. iGPSPORT bike computers) . There might be others, but I don't know about them.


It's fuckin' bleak, y'all. I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering building almost all my own tech out of Raspberry Pis and/or ESP32s because that's easier than searching for needles in the infinite haystack of surveillance capitalist slop!

[–] Kupi@sh.itjust.works 6 points 10 hours ago

Depending on how comfortable you are with flashing, you can go the Thingino route with security cameras. I would recommend getting cameras that can utilize the no tools/sd card method for flashing though. Wish I would’ve known that before buying my tapo cameras…