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FTC urged to make smart devices say how long they will be supported (arstechnica.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 1 month ago (24 children)

A big problem is things tied unnecessarily to an internet service. We need to educate people that there may be alternatives and we need our purchasing decisions to support that. For example, most home automation stuff should NOT require or use any internet.

The article calls it “software tethering”. If any support commitments encourage manufacturers to stop that, we’ll all be better off. Let’s start with requiring users be clearly notified of software tethering, so they know what they’re buying

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (12 children)

At least make it required to not brick at EOS if it's a device that would otherwise run. Like a laundry machine.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (11 children)

There’s no reason a laundry machine requires an internet connection

if an internet connection provides additional functionality such as notification, it easier to have the machine work normally without notifications
there’s no reason a machine requires an internet connection, especially with the release of the Matter/Thread standard to unify home automation local protocols

When I got new machines about five years ago, I briefly considered connected machines. It would be really nice to get notifications on my phone but how can it possibly cost that much and why does the only option depend on a cloud service?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think a LAN-connected machine would be good, if you could use an app or open-source, well-documented API to control the machine, but there is no reason a washing machine should need to connect to the outer internet. You can VPN into your local network if it's that necessary to control it away from home.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The new Thread/Matter standard is an attempt to bring together various home automation protocols for exactly things like this.

Previously an appliance manufacturer may have needed to support multiple protocols and decide how to expose functionality.
the new standard is IPv6 based: Matter is the Ethernet protocol and Thread a local-only low power mesh network, and it’s sponsored by Apple, Amazon and many other players. However another great feature is a standard set of device types, so most of the functionality you need to implement is already defined and other services already know how to interact with it.

If were Matter/Thread, I can already ask Siri the status or configure Alexa to announce when it’s done or script my home automation hub to flash an LED indicator.

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