So, a WiFi-attached device sitting in my bedroom with a high-sensitivity microphone, a proximity detector, and unknown software? I think I'll pass, even though the product seems cool and useful otherwise.
Sure, I've got my cellphone in my bedroom at night and it's got the mic, network connection, and unknown software. But I figure there's a much better chance of someone discovering that Google or Sprint has installed a backdoor into my phone's OS or hardware that's sending recordings illicitly than there is of someone discovering the same thing about a niche product.
If the software was open (such that I could compile and install it myself if I wanted to), and the collected data was open and available to me too, I'd be a lot more inclined to buy this. Those changes would also create the possibility of an add-on developer community that could be constantly providing new software capabilities to the device, which makes it even more compelling as a product. For example, philbarr is asking about a bunch of baby monitor features; those could all be added with software changes, I'd bet.
The first thing I look for with these products is whether there is an option for the data to stay local, or whether it is always sent directly to the cloud. I'm just not comfortable with that class of data being sent off site.
This is one reason why I'm confused by the internet of things, is the model really going to be that we have pervasive black boxes sending continuous data feeds to god knows where?
Seems like a curious place to draw the line, but to each his own. We know that law enforcement has the ability to turn smartphones into remote listening devices.
That's very different than being able to examine the source code and the data to see where everything is going. Also, though I'm not a rabid proponent of FOSS software, in this case, I would prefer to have many eyes on this code, since the authors are unknown (to me) and the data is sensitive.
This is completely ridiculous. Nobody is going to be building a backdoor into a product only a handful of people use when there are products that millions of people use that are just as easy to backdoor.
If the NSA, CIA, a foreign government, competitors, your own company, your mother, etc. wanted to listen to you and other people en masse, they're going to be backdooring a piece of software which is used by more people. A niche product like this wouldn't warrant the time necessary to bacdoor/collect data.
To my mind, the device certainly isn't some sort of serious, imminent threat, but I am sceptical because it raises philosophical objections about the direction of travel.
Sure, I've got my cellphone in my bedroom at night and it's got the mic, network connection, and unknown software. But I figure there's a much better chance of someone discovering that Google or Sprint has installed a backdoor into my phone's OS or hardware that's sending recordings illicitly than there is of someone discovering the same thing about a niche product.
If the software was open (such that I could compile and install it myself if I wanted to), and the collected data was open and available to me too, I'd be a lot more inclined to buy this. Those changes would also create the possibility of an add-on developer community that could be constantly providing new software capabilities to the device, which makes it even more compelling as a product. For example, philbarr is asking about a bunch of baby monitor features; those could all be added with software changes, I'd bet.