Do you trust smart homes? Maybe you won’t after the story of how one man controlled 7k robot vacuums
I know it sounds almost cringe,😀
but I recently came across an article describing how someone used Claude Code to access robot vacuum devices across 24 countries and potentially observe their environments.
Smart homes are amazing, modern, and in many ways practical.
But have you ever thought about the possibility that the same technologies meant to make life easier could also gain too much control over your home? How do you plan protect yourself, guys? :D
I also remember a story from about 5 – 6 years ago when I was at university. One day, my lecturer’s “smart system” malfunctioned, and she couldn’t open her two-meter entrance gate. She was practically trapped inside her own house.
In the end, she had to climb over the gate just to get to the class, and the system was later fixed, but that moment was funny and scary at the same time. (It reminded me one Horror Simpsons episodeň It’s one of the reasons I stay a bit sceptical about fully automated smart homes. :D
Replies
The "accidentally" part is what gets me — he wasn't trying to breach anything, just pair a controller to his own device. That kind of incidental access to 7k units points to an authentication model that was never designed with scale in mind. Most IoT vendors build for features, not threat models. What would actually give you confidence — local-only processing, or something like transparent audit trails?
minimalist phone: creating folders
@giammbo I think it wasn't totally "accidental" :D But also it shows how the system is faulty and full of gaps.
@busmark_w_nika Exactly — "accidental" in intent, systemic in effect. The gap between what a device is designed to do and what it turns out to be capable of at scale is the real problem. Local-only processing would at least shrink the blast radius when those gaps appear.
as if 7,000 Roombas are forming a sentient dust uprising 😂😂
minimalist phone: creating folders
@rolodexter new type of AI revolta :D
This is exactly why I only use smart features that still have a manual fallback — convenience is great, but losing basic control of your own home is a scary trade-off.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@allinonetools_net IMO, it is good to have smart devices, but also use them smartly (not blindly relying) :)
vibecoder.date
I wouldn't trust any smart home device capable of 'phoning home'
I want app-less appliances.
Frankly I'm pretty sick of microwaves being passive aggressively loud when I am tired and forget I heated up something. They beep like the pay the damn rent. SMH
minimalist phone: creating folders
@build_with_aj :D what about electric autonomous cars? :D (I probably know the answer lol)
vibecoder.date
@busmark_w_nika
See, I'm less skeptical of those because they are starting to be safe and humans themselves are not as safe of drivers as we like to think. Defensive driving is a reason.
the tech is brittle outside of well mapped cities like san fransisco, it has a long way to go, and the only way to make it work is to have strong safety standards.
That being said I love driving and even in the age of autonomous cars I'd love to drive for leisure.
I heard smth similar many years ago but without Claude. Stories like "your smart devices scrape data while you are sleeping". Though I think that it is just security question and it isn't new. It was, it is and it will be