
Unauthorized Bread: Jailbreaking IoT toasters - rbanffy
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/
======
scalableUnicon
Reminds me of my all-in-one "Ink Advantage" HP printer. The cost of ink
cartridge had gone so high that it was reasonable to just not use it anymore.
The cartridges can be reliably refilled 3-4 times but they put an artificial
#X papers print limit on each of those cartridges and show cartridge needs to
be replaced message once those limits are reached. Once there was a firmware
update for some vulnerability, and the update somehow erased the previous
cartridges used and I was able to refill and reuse all of my previous
cartridges twice again so I know cartridges were in perfect condition despite
the printer saying otherwise. It remains one of my most regretted purchases
till date. Only if someone had the time and motive to jailbreak it :(

~~~
alex_duf
anyone aware of a printer that isn't robbing you?

I've seen this on buymeonce which is usually pretty good, but I'm having
trouble believing epson would have actually designed this

[https://buymeonce.com/products/epson-ecotank-et-2650-all-
in-...](https://buymeonce.com/products/epson-ecotank-et-2650-all-in-one-
printer-copier-scanner?_pos=2&_sid=645c20bb4&_ss=r)

Edit: still seems these brick themselves once the ink pad is full. Can't find
good data on that so please correct me if I'm wrong.

~~~
lqet
I have been using a Brother HL-2130 laser printer which cost less then 100 EUR
for nearly 10 years now. Every 1-2 years, I buy a cheap toner (under 20 EUR)
online. By far the most reliable printer I have ever owned.

~~~
mstuyt
Sitting next to a Brother MFC-8600 that is 20 years old and still printing
away. Haven't faxed anything in 5 years though ;-)

------
Timpy
I programmed for a refurbishing company for some time, where I learned about
toner cartridge refill kits. Once you've bought an expensive copier for your
company you're vendor locked into proprietary toner cartridges, and they
charge outrageous prices. "Pirates" started selling bags of toner and syringes
on eBay with instructional videos on how to refill the cartridge yourself. The
toner company started putting small chips on the cartridge that would count
the number of prints, and deactivate the cartridge after a certain amount.
"Out of toner" was a lie, it was unauthorized printing. Reading this story is
making me sick to my stomach.

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
My favorite one was the K-Cup machine.

The first one allowed you use refillable K-cups so you could make coffee
really fast using your own grounds.

The second one had a DRM module that didn't allow you to put in 'Unathorized
Coffee'.

Regarding Unathorized Bread, I actually found the story of the cancer patients
to be far more realistic and made me realize how people get radicalized
easily. The story is something that should be read for yourself but I was on
the edge of my seat through it.

~~~
Timpy
I edited the word "radicalized" out of my original comment to make it more
concise, but that's exactly how I feel. I had medical issue while I was in a
foreign country that cost me $35 to see a doctor and get medicine. When I
returned to America, in between jobs and in between health care providers, the
same medicine cost me $500, and that's only because I was able to have a
doctor-friend phone in the prescription so I didn't have to pay for a doctor's
visit too. This was the same winter I learned about toner-pirates, and I found
my contact lens prescription were held from me unless I paid for another eye
exam. I'm tired of protecting myself from this predatory system.

~~~
bscphil
The medical system in America is fetishized suffering.

My partner is lucky enough to have "very good" insurance through their
employer. They recently had to have a scan done to check for serious problems.
We got a bill for $500, half for the hospital and specialist, and half for the
scan itself and the people providing it.

I took a look at how the costs broke down. In fact, the "real" cost was $5000,
and the insurance company paid 90% of that. I started digging and discovered
that they pay just about 90% of all medical treatment across the board (for a
_very_ small set of in-network physicians and hospitals). Even putting aside
whether $5000 was a reasonable cost for this 1 hour procedure (probably not),
this left me wondering, why 90%? Why pay such an extraordinarily high
percentage, but not all of it?

After thinking about this for a while, I've come to the conclusion that it's a
combination of two factors. One is that it's absolutely unacceptable to
Americans for individuals to ever receive anything for free. You absolutely
have to suffer in some way for every good thing you're allowed to have. The
other is that I think they want to actively dissuade you from getting the
medical care you need unless it's _crucial_ , because someone worked the math
out and putting a slight disincentive on medical care works out slightly
cheaper for them than just letting people have what they need with the
insurance they're already paying for.

The result in human costs is enormous. My partner has cried about this on and
off for weeks because $500 is a very consequential amount of money for us, and
we didn't have even a ballpark estimate before the procedure of how much it
would cost.

So yes, it's radicalizing as hell. Burn this system to the ground.

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
As much as Obamacare is liked, this is one of the issues I didn't like about
it.

Law says insurance must cover 80%+ of the costs of healthcare, insurance
company conspires with hospital to raise costs, everyone else gets fucked.

------
Causality1
My price barrier for smart devices is whether I would scream if I dropped it
in the toilet and ruined it. $5 smart outlet? Sure I'll put my lamps on those.
$25 streaming dongle? All right, that'll last at least five years before
Netflix decides it isn't secure enough.

$500 television? Hell no. $1200 in home automation and surveillance linked to
a central hub? I wasn't dropped on my head as a child, so no.

~~~
mindslight
Presumably you're buying more than one remotely-switched outlet, and their
software will fail at the same time. So the actual risk there is much higher
than $5.

The way I see it is buy devices that can be controlled with Free software,
don't give them Internet connectivity, and plan on never "upgrading" the
firmware. The TP-LINK Kasa line works well for me (their protocol is trivially
obfuscated), as well as anything that can be flashed with Tasmota.

Also in general you don't want to go too cheap on anything that switches line
current. I have to wonder how many of those fly by night "Amazon brands" are
getting creepage right.

~~~
boring_twenties
Just in case you're not aware, there is a new and much improved free Kasa
library in the works: [https://github.com/python-kasa/python-
kasa](https://github.com/python-kasa/python-kasa)

It's already been working perfectly with my HS103 and HS110 plugs for months.
The only thing still missing for me is the per-plug energy meter of my HS300
strip, which I hope will be coming very soon.

~~~
mindslight
Nice. I've been driving mine directly with Home Assistant, but it has some
warts. So I do have the itch to write my own daemon that controls them, and
publishes a better interface via MQTT.

------
nabilhat
The irony of the ad box blurb for the book itself fits in:

 _"...currently available in paperback and Kindle formats._"

It's also available in several other ebook formats not authorized for use with
the affiliate link. The local library offers Adobe EPUB, Open EPUB, and
OverDrive Read as well. All the better for reading on my unauthorized
jailbroken ereader.

~~~
EvanAnderson
Cory Doctorow makes all of his books available on his website in DRM free
formats, as well.

In fact, there's a DRM free audiobook available from his website:
[https://craphound.com/unauthorizedbread/](https://craphound.com/unauthorizedbread/)

~~~
jesse_m
Also, he gets more of a cut if you buy from him and no DRM! win-win

------
steffan
[Spoiler]

My favorite line in the whole thing: "and a large warning sticker that
threatened electrocution and prosecution, perhaps simultaneously"

He really is a master of the language. Thanks, Cory, wherever you are!

~~~
tekstar
[Big Spoiler]

The best line of the book, a big reveal, is hidden in the last line of the
story.

~~~
mcphage
Could you rot13 what you mean by this? I don't understand what the last line
of the story reveals, unless I missed part of it?

~~~
tekstar
fur arire gbyq ure gbnfgre pbzcnal sevraq nobhg gur pneqvzhz erpvcr. ure
sevraq jnf fclvat ba ure.

~~~
mcphage
Uzz, V frr jung lbh'er fnlvat, ohg V qb guvax vg rfgnoyvfurq rneyvre gung
Jlbzvat jnf jngpuvat bire ure:

> “Gur iveghny znpuvarf lbh’er hfvat nera’g sbbyvat gurz nalzber. Gurl frag
> bhg na hcqngr gung vf qrfvtarq gb oernx ba IZf. V whfg purpxrq lbhe
> ohvyqvat. Lbh’er whfg unatvat bhg gurer abj. Gurer’f ab jnl gurl’yy zvff
> vg.”

Fnyvzn nyfb zragvbarq gung fur znqr gur Pneqnzbz ohaf rirel zbeavat, fb vg'f
cbffvoyr gung fur unq gnyxrq nobhg gurz orsber:

> Fnyvzn jnf irel tbbq ng onxvat. Fur unq qvfpbirerq Abeqvp oernqf naq znqr
> sbhe yvggyr pneqnzbz ohaf rirel zbeavat, qhfgrq jvgu pvaanzba.

Ohg V guvax lbh'er evtug, vg'f gurer gb fubj gung Jlbzvat vf fgvyy jngpuvat
bire Fnyvzn. Ohg Fnyvzn qbrfa'g frrz hcfrg ol gung snpg.

------
gwbas1c
Read this as part of Cory Doctorow's "Radicalized" compilation. The whole set
of short stories are awesome. If you're enjoying the excerpt, I suggest just
buying the book and starting from the beginning.

------
gumby
> She could wash dishes in the sink but how the hell was she supposed to make
> toast—over a candle?

When I was a kid we just made it in the oven. I don’t remember using an
electric toaster before I was a teenager.

One of my friends had a special short door at the top of their oven just for
this.

(I suppose in the story the oven is licensed too)

~~~
bonzini
Yeah it turns out the toaster is actually an oven, but until jailbroken you
can only use it as a toaster and only with authorized bread.

------
kelvin0
I recently watched a great video showing a toaster from the 40's.

It's amazing the features and engineering used to make such a little gem:
[https://youtu.be/1OfxlSG6q5Y](https://youtu.be/1OfxlSG6q5Y)

All this without IoT, Block chain or Deep Learning ;)

------
aloisdg
Is this... The Conquest of Bread

------
jaybeeayyy
“Ask for your appliance to work. If they don't get your appliance to work, ask
for toasted bread. If they do not get your appliance to work or toast your
bread, then take their toasted bread.”

------
tyingq
Is there a list somewhere of consumer stuff that has DRM? I knew about printer
ink. But, I was surprised to find that some refrigerators have DRM water
filters.

------
nitrogen
First page was hilarious. Does anyone know if there's a way to buy a paper
copy? I find reading fiction on a screen much less convenient.

~~~
jesse_m
Radicalized is in paperback on Amazon: [https://www.amazon.com/Radicalized-
Cory-Doctorow/dp/12502292...](https://www.amazon.com/Radicalized-Cory-
Doctorow/dp/1250229251/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=)

It has unauthorized bread in it.

------
yellow_lead
> _she was able to run the darknet browser she still had kicking around and do
> some judicious googling_

------
bregma
This story is a lesson on why rent seekers should be sought out and
extinguished wherever they arise.

------
fian
Reminds me of The Toaster, a short story by Piers Anthony, included in
Anthonology.

------
zozbot234
Hey, maybe I _can_ run NetBSD on my toaster after all!

------
b4ke
lol.... doubtful on the conquest of the universal baker.

------
throwanem
I'm a little disappointed that he didn't call it something like "Juicero
World", given how on-the-nose he can rarely seem to help himself from being.
But hey, he's the successful author, I have to assume he knows what he's
doing.

~~~
jabroni_salad
That would really date the story.

~~~
wizzwizz4
Whereas writing it about this topic won't? (It probably won't, but we can
fight to make it so.)

------
dhosek
I've only read one Doctorow book, _Pirate Cinema_ (plus one long story which I
apparently found the premise intriguing and the execution lacking but have
otherwise forgotten). I found _Pirate Cinema_ to be annoyingly doctrinaire and
not very well written. It was kind of like reading Soviet "proletarian
literature" with a different underlying ideology (or the sentimental religious
literature popular among some folks). From the brief bit I read and knowing
what I know about Doctorow, I would expect this to be more of the same.
Ideology never makes for good fiction.

------
JoeAltmaier
Jiminy Crickets, what a diatribe. Maybe that reads like something clever to a
layman, but from where I stand its a tired run-on rant. How it got any kind of
recognition is a puzzle to me.

~~~
bregma
Rog, is that you?

