Your Thermostat and the Internet - Comments Page 2

"But Nest says they won't be sharing any of this data with Google"
But if Google owns them, how can they prevent it?

"Your Thermostat or Your Life"
Only about 5 years ago there was a proposal that the state of California should monitor and control thermostat settings so as to save energy. Well, "Laugh today; suffer tomorrow." Stuff like this, seat belts, smoking restrictions on your own property -- You don't have to be too bright to see where this is going. In China they call this sort of thing "Death by a Thousand Cuts." There comes a point wherein you should be able to draw a line and say "Hey, I'm an adult and this is none of your business."
You may not be able to stop these trends but you can sure as hell refuse to purchase or use a "smart" thermostat. Sooner or later Google is going to give these away just so they can use the information they obtain about you to sell better- targeted advertising. I don't want to use any one that has an Internet connection. If forced to I will find out how to disable the connection and do it.
[Bob! Can you tell us how to do that?}
And, no, I don't own a smart phone. Or a smart car. I don't want to have to match wits with my toaster.

"There Will Come Soft Rains."
One comment on the posting of "Not Bill Gates":
I read Ray Bradbury's "There will come soft rains" maybe 50 years ago and I still remember it. Their "house computer" controlled everything for their comfort: not only thermostat settings, but bath water temperature (and drew the bath come bedtime), and read you a story when you got under the blanket. A hot-rocks kid at the time, I wondered if a hand would come out just when you start to get into it, offering you some packages of Trojans, and a soft voice might say, "Did you forget to use these? And just a reminder: Your wife has just left work and, given current traffic patterns, will arrive in 36 minutes, so hurry up. Or would you prefer that I cause some mechanical problem to her car that may give you more time?" You can embroider this endlessly. The story ended when there was a malfunction and the electrical system of the house caused a major fire. The robot voice assured don't worry, it was fighting the fire and then, advised the family to leave the house and it was calling the Fire Department and later died completely. I don't recall if before signing off the computer then said something endearing like "So sorry, major failure, please call the company for a replacement unit under your lifetime warranty, and now, my lifetime warranty is about to expire and me along with it. It has been a pleasure. Have a nice glynixystreb!"

In the Bradbury story, however, the family is all dead when the story began and the evidence suggests everyone was burned to a crisp as a result of nuclear war. Neutron bombs would be lethal to people but leave structures untouched. (One kid's comment: "Hey, what a great bomb! It only kills the people!") Fears of that were big in the '50s. HAL was only a gleam in Bill Gates' eye.

Let's review:

1. Google bought Nest for a trainload of money.

2. Nest would have us believe that Google will not do their very best to extract every nickle they can from this investment.

3. Right....

makes sense for Google to buy this so as to have one more way to get back at apple, since the founders of nest were head honchos at McIntosh..

Bob ... Informative article, as usual. WOW ... Google wanting to get into the "Smart" Business??? What you said about Nest and their products, sounded very interesting ... Until, Google was mentioned.

Now, I am coming from a completely different viewpoint. I am a Renter and I do NOT want the Owner or Property Management to know ANYTHING, about my activities or my utility usage is or what my usual "schedule" is!!! This scares me, to no end.

While, I am not pleased that Google is going into the Smart Business ... I still worry, that as a Renter, the Owner or Property Management just might install either a Nest System or another Smart Home System, for their own nefarious means. Sorry, that I sound so cynical ... But, after living 70 years and seeing a lot of BS come down the pipeline ... Cynicism and suspicion is what I feel, about things like this.

Yes, I do have a Smart Phone and love it ... Do I worry? Of course, that is why I have a good Anti-Virus Program that I pay for, annually. I chose to use avast! ... I use avast! for my home PC and knew that I would be "safe", using it on my Smart Phone.

I have an Android phone, which means it easily could be "hacked", so, I want to be as protected, as possible. Now, that doesn't mean I can't be "hacked", just that when you have good protection, the likelihood is not as strong.

Bob ... Thank you, once again! You have given me great pause, in this issue. My rental lease, will be up in April 2015 and should the owners try to increase the monthly rent ... I will be looking for another place to rent and definitely, will be looking for any Smart Home Devices in places, I might consider renting.

"On the internet, no one knows you are a toaster!"
Caption from a website graphically discussing IoT