Thermostats, Locks and Lights: Digital Tools of Domestic Abuse | Hacker News Reader

Thermostats, Locks and Lights: Digital Tools of Domestic Abuse

nytimes.com

43 pointsf3f3_11 comments

I think about this sometimes.

I put together my own IoT infrastructure in our apartment. I did everything by hand: I wrote the embedded code, I wrote the server code, I pieced together the hub with a router and RasPi I had lying around. I spliced cheap WiFi relays into our IKEA lamps— and just to keep things simple, I also removed the original hardware switches.

The upshot is we have this nice web-accessible home automation system for a total parts outlay of probably under $100. It works really well! (As long as the Let’s Encrypt cron job is set up properly...) And most importantly, I know that I own it.

The thing about that is... I own it. I’m the only one in the world who understands how it works. I’m the only one who can fix it if it breaks. But I don’t live alone. If I pack up and leave, my partners aren’t going to be able to turn the lights on without going out to buy brand new lights.

And wow, that’s a huge amount of trust to put in me! Of course my partners do trust me that much, but it’s striking that I didn’t take that into consideration at all when I started the project.

I appreciate that your abilities in this are beyond my own.

I think what is absent in your cost description is the value of them.

And in the commercial world, we seem to have products that ameliorate that cost in part through the state of their security. Whether neglectful, or deliberate (e.g. the whole "advertising model" with respect to much Web content). I don't know enough to describe how this works in the hardware/firmware world, but I suspect nonetheless that it's a factor.

I'm not saying anything novel, here, except that often we leave the cost of expertise out of our pricing and expectations.

Whether our own, or paying for someone else's.

And... marketing too often attempts to substitute image for reality. High prices, with just a showman behind the curtain.

> Those at help lines said more people were calling in the last 12 months about losing control of Wi-Fi-enabled doors, speakers, thermostats, lights and cameras

What happened to the good old thing called "physical access"? Press the reset button, unplug the thing, remove its battery or even drop it into a bucket of water. Problem solved.

> When a victim uninstalls the devices, this can escalate a conflict, experts said. “The abuser can see it’s disabled, and that may trigger enhanced violence,” said Jennifer Becker, a lawyer at Legal Momentum, a women’s rights legal advocacy group.

If I hit someone repeatedly with their toaster, and they uninstall the toaster, so I beat them with their frying pan, the fact that they owned a toaster isn’t very relevant in the situation, the hitting is

It seems like this is a bit different, though.

The equipment can be used to spy on people and harass them when the abuser isn't even there.

You're missing the escalation aspect. The risk is that the abuser starts hitting harder or switches to a deadly weapon like a gun or knife.

But if we arrive to the point of violence, wouldn't digital devices be pretty irrelevant anyway? Like if things are starting to get out of control why is the victim even staying in proximity to the abuser and not getting help from the police or at the very least staying away at a friend's place or something?

In the few cases I've seen personally, it's because they're afraid of the abuser's reaction. They're afraid that if they go to a friend's house, the abuser will go there and break in. They're afraid that if they call the police, the abuser will find out, fool the police into thinking that everything is okay, and then escalate from there. They're afraid that even if the abuser is arrested, convicted and imprisoned, the punishment is just delayed until the release.

This is actually brilliant from an abusers POV: "hey, it's my house, I like this music, or want to turn x off and y on." Or just did it to test how it works. Meanwhile the partner goes literally nuts.

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