Who is collecting data from other household appliances?

Yes, saw that yesterday. You have got to be :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: kidding me. I assume though that in a ā€œdegradedā€ no-internet / no-app mode, the air fryer is still basically usable as an actual air fryer.

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One would hope. But I can easily imagine a not-so-distant future in which they are, or retroactively become, ā€œtango uniform.ā€

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I recently learned about a cup/mug heater that requires an app to use it:

The Ember Mug has sensors that sends its data to the app, so you can configure the drinking temperature to your preference, or create presets for measuring caffeine intake. It has more integrated support for the Apple ecosystem, allowing you to locate the Ember Travel Mug 2+ using Appleā€™s Find My network.

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And airfryers: https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/05/air_fryer_spyin (among others) [Why???]

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Yeah. And the crux of all of the spies out there is that we paid for them. They donā€™t price the product and then add the cost of injecting the Spy. We pay for the spy, plus the cost to the company to collect and analyze the data-for-sale.

AND,

whatever product they are selling, consumers paid to make the ad, place the add, and pay out hit-fees. Everything we buy, the price includes making and distributing ads, along with the packaging, inks, colour, and the rent for where it sits on the shelves.

IMO, we are the most sought after commodity on the Internet. People buy a phone. The most egregious abuses of peopleā€™s rights to privacy, and will keep something on the phone they donā€™t want their mother to read, yet let corporations, Social Media, news, retailers, government etceteraā€¦ see all, know all about the devices operator. :unamused:

~s

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See also:

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Except for those companies that do, sort of. In other words, the price of the product is discounted because the company is incorporating consideration of the future revenue from selling your data. Hence if you buy the product but manage to use the product without leaking data then your purchase is being subsidised by those users of the product who donā€™t know any better or who donā€™t care.

However you still need to consider the ethical and strategic considerations that if a vendor can do that and undercut other companies who refuse to sell your data then some of those other companies will eventually be forced out of business and ultimately you may find that you have no ethical companies left to do business with.

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There are always exceptions to everything. But unlike social mores minorities now make the decisions.

Are you implying that there are still ā€œethical companiesā€ around!!! OMG, who is it?

I left that open for you :rofl: to plug away.

~s

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OK, consider it a spectrum from 0% ethical to 100% ethical, and at the 100% ethical end of the spectrum there may be no companies anyway.

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OK, I left it open for you. The answer is Purism company.

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ā€œWorst in Showā€ awards at CES 2025: From VOA: 'Worst in Show' CES products put data at risk and cause waste, privacy advocates say

Alternate reporting: The CES worst in show awards lampoon AI everthing ā€¢ The Register

Itā€™s good to see these things getting attention from the press.

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