One thing worth mentioning is that homekit/siri doesn't send voice commands to the internet, in favor of in-device processing? Not sure about google/alexa smart assistants, do you know if they do?

Another thing is for crucial products like cameras or anything with microphone, do you think the reputation/policies of the companies behind it is important? Are they uploading your recordings to their own cloud servers, for example? Any ideas what security camera system is best for privacy and functionality?

yes

Short answer, YES! If I get ads based on things I've said, not typed on my keyboard or smart phone, it's either the smart phone or Alexa who's spying. Someone is picking up spoken keywords🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ But, I have nothing to hide, and targeted ads are better than random shit I'll never buy, so I'm ok with knowing there's some spying going on. But, for the love of God, DO NOT PUT CAMERAS IN YOUR BEDROOM 😂😂😂😂

I’d like to hear more about VLANs also.

I try to think about what hackers would actually want. Yes, there are pranksters that want to talk to you through your camera etc. but the majority (I'd say, not speaking from statistics) are wanting passwords, data etc. The way I see it is so long as I keep that info secure AND frequently monitored I'm not concerned. For example, my living room lamp kept turning on by itself. I looked through my hub (Google Assistant/Home) and found an old routine got enabled. Then I just did a quick check of my related accounts (Gmail, WIFI usage etc) and nothing else was changed so I wasn't concerned. Because the likelihood of someone ONLY changing my lamp when they hypothetically accessed my personal data is unrealistic.

I do want to get a Dream Machine though to secure my connections better and "direct" traffic more efficiently.

Have you ever used the avea elgato bulb? It has presets that create an amazing glow and color change feature, do you know if hue bulbs can do the same?

Great video but…. I want your floating lamp!! haha

i love all of your videos but unfortunately i would take the bunker route. even if your data isn't being collected in a way you can decipher, it is being stored. even if you were to never use any trigger words. if it has a camera, video is always being recorded. with or without your consent. same thing with audio. as long as they are connected to power all data is being funneled. if not by google/amazon then by intelligence agencies. NSA has access to virtually all user data worldwide. not just in US. listen to what snowden has to say about this. please

Great video! Spot on and beautiful new house!

I am interested in your VLAN video. I have a Netgear Orbi Wireless Mesh Network and everything on on one physically/wireless LAN. I did recently plan ahead when upgrading my network to add 10GbE for my Synology NAS and compute devices. I have one port from my router going to a 10GbE managed switch and another port from my router going to my unmanaged 1GbE switch for IoT. I was told the easier way to not have to mess with my 90 smart home devices was to split the LAN physically with the 1GbE switch and keep the SSID for IoT the same but change to Internet access only, then use the 10GbE switch on the other VLAN and update any Wi-Fi compute devices to a new SSID for access to Internet and computer devices. Would love to hear your take on this in your video.

Thanks and looking forward to more great videos, especially the ones where you get yourself in trouble with the family! 🤣

Can I get negligent spouse mode!!!!

All my cheap smart home devices are zig bee or Z wave via Hubitat. Including bulbs. Also I have my google home mini devices set to beep once it’s heard the wake phrase and when it stops listening.

Dude, there is a big difference between comments I volunteer in social media and data I don't know I am sharing just because I happen to have this or that device or app. There are ways to have both and I think you have drawn a false equivalency here. That being said, it is true that we do voluntarily divulge a lot online ourselves without thinking.

I think what a lot of people don't fully appreciate is how all of these tidbits of seemingly trivial data can be organized and distilled into an image of you and your habits. You give away a lot of info with your credit/debit purchases alone – so much so that the data can be used to predict how likely it is that you'll be divorced in the next 6 months. That seems pretty personal and invasive but hardly something that I have any control over how that data is used.

People like to laugh of these things as incidental and benign but they can be used to take advantage of the vulnerable too. You ever wonder why elderly people are targeted for all sorts of schemes by people who live nowhere near the victim? Some of it is the demographic data that we exude daily. How about predatory lenders? Think they pick names out of a hat?

A connected world means that not only are we able to live in a Jetson's like world with lots of cool gadgets and instant access to our families and friends – no matter where they are. However, it also brings the bad guys just as close. Make no mistake, you have no idea how paranoid you should be because you don't know 1) what is being collected and 2) how that data can be combined to know incredibly intimate details about you.