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Oh yay, more regulation. Unless its to say that all devices are required to have a documented local-first and local-only API to control the device I don't really care. Oh, and the ability to disable any kind of cloud connection whatsoever.

Archive: https://archive.today/SsWfM

From the post: "The smart home is still broken, and surprisingly, interoperability isn’t the issue. The problem is, when it comes to connected devices, consumers are buying hardware that behaves like software. And unlike hardware, which fails in fairly predictable and established ways, software breaks in opaque and surprising ways. It’s hard to classify this disconnect. It can feel like you don’t really own your connected devices or you can’t rely on them. And if we want things to get better for consumers, we need both manufacturers and regulators to step up. "

Oh yay, more regulation. Unless its to say that all devices are required to have a documented local-first and local-only API to control the device I don't really care. Oh, and the ability to disable any kind of cloud connection whatsoever. Archive: https://archive.today/SsWfM From the post: "The smart home is still broken, and surprisingly, interoperability isn’t the issue. The problem is, when it comes to connected devices, consumers are buying hardware that behaves like software. And unlike hardware, which fails in fairly predictable and established ways, software breaks in opaque and surprising ways. It’s hard to classify this disconnect. It can feel like you don’t really own your connected devices or you can’t rely on them. And if we want things to get better for consumers, we need both manufacturers and regulators to step up. "

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[–] • 1 pt (edited )

This is mostly about contract law. You buy a device that works as long as you follow its rules. Later, some exec decides to rip consumers off by changing its terms of the contract. That, in turn breaks the device. Or, Amazon believes you said a racial slur into Alexa and shuts down your account.

More regulations can only make this worse. Rather, what will happen is people will move away from smart features and buy devices that work as aplliances without an internet connection. This is what I do. I don't plug my TV into WiFi, I don't own Alexa or Ring. I own security cameras, but I don't subscribe to any subscription service. I treat devices as appliance. Actually, I treat all my PCs as appiances too. I never upgrade them, I don't update the OS. I use the functionality I paid for. When I need more functionality, I either buy an app (if it will run on my un-updated PC) or I buy new hardware and software. This avoids the unpleasentness of discovering upgrade issues.