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Manufacturer issues remote kill command to disable smart vacuum after engineer blocks it from collecting data — user revives it with custom hardware and Python scripts to run offline (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 1 month ago by spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world
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An engineer got curious about how his iLife A11 smart vacuum worked and monitored the network traffic coming from the device. That’s when he noticed it was constantly sending logs and telemetry data to the manufacturer — something he hadn't consented to. The user, Harishankar, decided to block the telemetry servers' IP addresses on his network, while keeping the firmware and OTA servers open. While his smart gadget worked for a while, it just refused to turn on soon after. After a lengthy investigation, he discovered that a remote kill command had been issued to his device.

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[-] BennyTheExplorer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I think your comparison to slavery is a bit overblown and minimizes the tragedy of actual slavery. But I agree with the sentiment.

[-] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

But someone making money off of me without my consent is literally slavery. No one is saying that this form of slavery is equivalent to chattel slavery, so I don’t understand how this minimizes that? Do you also think that wage slavery or forced prison labor are not slavery?

[-] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

There are other types of slavery besides American chattel slavery.

[-] Twinklebreeze@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

No. This robot vacuum situation is basically the Holocaust, and if you can't see that then you are complicit. /s

[-] Darkenfolk@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 month ago

Yeah down with the oppressors! Robot vacuums are also people!

this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2025
129 points (97.1% liked)

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