"SMART technology" Topic

I'm looking into spending (quite a few!) dollars on adding SMART* technology to my home.

Now as you know, this involves interaction and control of various devices and technology , through use of the Internet. EG by using phones, you can control TVs, appliances, lighting, entertainment, various life style options, home security systems, thermostats etc

What are any pitfalls or tips you may have?

*"Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology"

A *very* long time ago, I entered into an agreement to
do a pilot project of 'smart home' with a company
starting in the business.

I don't know the sophistication level of the tech you'll
be using, but if it has sensor-based controls in part, be
very careful where and how the sensors are placed.

Motion and/or voice/sound activated options can be
activated by pets, rodents, etc. If you have any
standard daily alarms (smart phone, etc.) make sure
the home's monitors won't react to those.

If the ability to auto-link to emergency services is
a feature, be very sure how the link is to be activated.
I had police show up a few times because high winds
fluttering window panes alerted the watchdog company.

There are some other potential issues, but I'm
reasonably confident that the tech has improved by
leaps and bounds over that of 30 years ago – plus
I'm confident your own common sense and a good
examination of what the tech can do for (and TO)
you will keep you on the right track.

Thanks for the advice, Ed. As I said, I'm still in the "looking into it" phase.

As for home security, I believe the company who monitors alarms is cognisant of, say, a roach moving through a beam. Evidently, they can tell. You also get a call before they patch through to the police so you can, quickly, cancel.

Now that I live in an old wooden home (originally built in 1930!)fire is a bigger concern than burglars.

I'm keen on the voice activated music, weather reports etc and the ability to program lighting, air-con etc.

The "breakthrough" IMO is the ubiquitous use of blue tooth.

I'm more concerned about giving so much information to a company that is trying to profit off of me. Nothing wrong with profit, I just don't want a third party knowing; what I watch, listen to, eat, when I'm home, etc.

As a police officer I've been to many, many, MANY alarms at 'smart homes' where the company didn't catch it. In my experience what has really changed the dynamic in alarms are systems like Ring. Where the system calls you directly. Cuts out the middle man and allows a much faster police response.

I think the police service is far more responsive here & more attuned to serving the public.And the security companies I've looked into are actually very efficient and, by law, not allowed to collect or use information. You have to remember this is OZ & not the US.

At any rate, as I indicated, crime rates are not high, fire is more my concern in terms of safety and it's the other, domestic aspects of SMART tech that I'm interested in.

Addendum: I've just received delivery of our new SMART fridge.

You can see what's in it on your I-Phone when coming home from work, so as to stop at the shops for your messages.

It also can be programmed to alert you via I-Phone about shortages on the milk-bread-cheese fronts.

I think I'm going to like this!

I don't, obviously, know about laws and so on in Oz, but
tech is tech. If the tech you'll be using does any sort
of wireless broadcasting, there is the possibility
(only possibility) that some person with nefarious
intent could park a sniffer unit within range of your
home and capture broadcast info to be re-transmitted
for whatever their purposes were.

Had a case of that two years ago in the cluster of
buildings where our antique shop was located.

Similar technique to using a keylogger…

No, Ed! Do you mean my nearly empty carton of milk will become common knowledge amongst the criminal fraternity!!

Seriously, though, I'm not sure what other information an identity thief or some such could steal from the level of technology I'm talking about. Phones & computers (were the info. is stored) are well protected.

"I think the police service is far more responsive here & more attuned to serving the public.And the security companies I've looked into are actually very efficient and, by law, not allowed to collect or use information. You have to remember this is OZ & not the US."

Yes, I'm sure law enforcement in Oz is superior to that in the US in every way, but you misunderstood what I said. You only have to look at what happened with the DNA testing services here to see what I mean. Those companies have started selling the information they got from customers to third parties, in the US to insurance companies to see if you have a predilection for certain diseases such as cancer, diabetes, etc.

As for the alarm, if the alarm is triggered it sends a message to the monitoring company, the company then calls you to make sure it's not a false alarm, if you don't answer or don't give the right pass code they then call the police. Systems such as Ring just notify you directly and you either call the police or not. It really speeds up response times.

I thank you for your desire to give good advice but what you have to realise is that the world is by no means uniform.Your experiences in the US do not readily apply here.

There are stringent laws here that prohibit peddling information of customers without their consent. These are backed by crippling fines. Possible identity theft by reputable companies? Unlikely.

Again, burglary is not a huge concern. Nor am I worried the police will turn up & accidentally shoot me & my cat. That doesn't happen here.

I have no intention or need to live my life in fear. A few sensible, low key precautions will suffice.

(BTW a good friend is a local policeman. He's travelled in the US with work quite a bit & agrees with your opening statement).

"Again, burglary is not a huge concern. Nor am I worried the police will turn up & accidentally shoot me & my cat. That doesn't happen here."

Sorry Ochoin. I was trying to give you some insight based on my professional experiences. I didn't realize it would turn into a diatribe about how terrible police are in this country and how superior Oz is to the US. Please, by all means, continue living in your bubble and ignoring reality.

I'm not sure where all this has come from, as after all, you made the initial comparison of the two police services.

However, I thank you for your kind, well meaning attempt to offer advice. To set your mind at ease, "reality" here must be quite different to wherever you are specifically from (a point I've tried to make three times now).

Am I correct in assuming you've never travelled here? If you are ever in the neighbourhood, please contact me & I'd be glad to show you around our little city of 2.5 million. I can almost promise you my policeman pal would also be glad to give you a local "police experience" as I believe there is a fellowship of constabulary around the world. I travel extensively globally and this is definitely a pleasant place…perhaps even a 'bubble' in your parlance.

No, Ed! Do you mean my nearly empty carton of milk will become common knowledge amongst the criminal fraternity!!

No, but casing the neighbourhood is much easier when I can identify a fridge contents request that comes from several miles away telling me that you are not home right now and stopping off at the grocery store on the way back.

I'm not going to get paranoid. I'll take precautions but I don't live in some sort of urban, dystopic jungle.

The Neighbourhood Watch bulletin indicated the suburb had three burglaries in the last quarter….a record! (break out the riot guns & raise the electric fences!!)

thanks for the advice, though

There's a difference between being aware and deliberate and being paranoid. I didn't tell you what to do or to be afraid of anything. I just pointed out part of the reality of the performance space in which you were acting of which you didn't seem to be aware.

A long while ago, I had to move Norfolk, VA (the largest Naval base in the known universe) for work. I looked at the police blotter for several candidate areas in which to live. But I actually looked.

I chose a high violent crime area. The overwhelming majority (over 90%) of the violent crimes in the area were of the form "Sailor comes home from deployment, finds wife in bed with friend then shoots friend" or "Sailor comes home from deployment, finds husband in bed with friend, stabs husband." I reasoned that as long as I wasn't going to sleep with some sailor's wife or husband, the high violent crime was a fact, but not germane to my decision.

The other thing you might want to consider is that SMART home technology, en masse, is a significant security risk to the rest of your network. Such networks (especially ones enabled by Bluetooth) are highly heterogeneous, creating numerous security gaps and seams.

Additionally, usually when you bring more than a few of such devices together, one or two "beacons" – it routinely contacts an external source to check for updates, which is a public announcement of a network that potentially has a well-known set of vulnerabilities.

While these are concerns, it is relatively easy to protect against. A minimal understanding of how such systems work and minimal reconfiguration off defaults is enough to make it not worth a cybercriminal's while instead of moving on to the large number of default configured systems.

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