Locked In Your Home – Purism

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2021-10-28 05:00:10

What brand is your home? Do you live in a Google, Apple, or Amazon house? Because in a modern “smart home” you may choose only one, and that choice locks you into dependence on only that vendor and its approved partners for any future appliances and home gadgets. Your “AI” voice assistant may talk to you, but it won’t talk to its competitors.

The modern smart home is a place where every appliance and device has its own embedded computer connected to the Internet and streaming data not just to the customer, but also to the vendor. While the battle for the phone market is ongoing, and whoever wins that battle wins control of the most personal and most important computer (and data) in a modern person’s life, Big Tech companies have decided that the home is the next big front in the battle for marketshare. Winning this battle means extending the same type of complete control and data collection companies currently enjoy on phones into the remaining parts of our life currently outside of their grasp.

Silicon Valley is invading your home because it wants to replicate the control it has today on the Web and smartphones, but this time build it into kitchen, bedroom and bathroom appliances that are harder to replace. On Tuesday, Amazon introduced a smart thermostat, talking picture frame and even a rolling robot — each of which you operate primarily through Amazon’s Alexa assistant. In other words, they want to install their walled gardens into our actual walls.