Bought a refrigerator for the whānau. 🐧
Am adult, I guess. 🤷
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While buying the refrigerator, the sales person enthusiastically pointed at one shiny new model fridge:
- This one has a WiFi connection.
+ Nope. Don't want that.
- It's alright, it's really only for firmware updates.
+ Nope. Nope. No internet at all for the fridge please.
Call me a luddite, but I am staunch in my belief that almost all of my home appliances have no business being online and are actually much better offline.
@pezmico “it’s only for firmware updates” 
oh god. Let me just worry about mechanical points of failure.
oh god. Let me just worry about mechanical points of failure.
@pezmico “It’s really only for firmware updates”
What do you mean my fridge as a firmware?!
@pezmico @dolfsquare recently moved and had to buy appliances.
So I said: "if any of those require internet to work, they go straight back to you"
So I said: "if any of those require internet to work, they go straight back to you"
Fortunately, none does (only the washing machine has an option for it, and it only works if you rotate the main button to the wifi mode, otherwise it's purely manual)
@pezmico I don’t want my appliances connected to the internet either! Don’t worry, you’re not being a Luddite. Not everything needs to be internet connected nor should be.
@pezmico Last time i bought a fridge the sales person wanted to sell me a WiFi stick for the fridge, then it could tell me if the temp is off or If the door is left open. "very handy when you are on vacation"
I declined the offer several times and he went: "ah, maybe you are not into technology"
and i explained that i did not fancy my fridge being part of a botnet.
I declined the offer several times and he went: "ah, maybe you are not into technology"
and i explained that i did not fancy my fridge being part of a botnet.
@pezmico totally agree 💯
@pezmico Why the hella fridge needs firmware updates and computer at all, to begin with…?
"Only for firmwares is updates" is not a good argument. It literally screams "Enshittification, spyware and planned obsolescence"…
@pezmico
When they have a fridge that changes its own filters I'll be happy to look at that.
When they have a fridge that changes its own filters I'll be happy to look at that.
@pezmico
Why would they need firmware updates anyway? Are these fridges still in the “beta” phase of development?
Why would they need firmware updates anyway? Are these fridges still in the “beta” phase of development?
@pezmico We had a new TV a while back - with internet connectivity, of course, because it has to be.
I did connect it up, because it should be easier than using the digibox. But I recently took that connection off, because the main impact seemed to be stopping the TV starting up when the internet was slow or unavailable (far too often).
@pezmico as a former Noel Leeming salesperson, we were told to say the reasoning was so that if something went wrong with it they could diagnose the issue remotely.
I still wouldn’t buy any such thing.
@pezmico There's no reason for an online fridge other than their surveillance of you.
@pezmico I’m generally of a similar view, but I have found genuine utility in having a washing machine that notifies me via my phone that it is finished. Now: the kicker will be when I still have that machine in 10 years and nothing supports that functionality. Fortunately it’s not required to make the device work: if it had been I would never have bought it.
@pezmico
And here is an example demonstrating why.
@pezmico The only reason that any electronic appliance is internet connected is to somehow exploit the person that owns it.
@pezmico Valid thinking.
@pezmico Fully agree with you!
Imagine the possibilities:
"Our food has all gone off because a hacker got into our fridge and is demanding a bitcoin payment if we want it to be cold again."
Nope.
"Sorry, the OTA firmware update has failed and your fridge is now bricked. As we've stopped supporting that model, here's a referral code to buy a new one with 1% discount."
Nope.
"Oh you want ice? Temperatures 0 degrees and below are now part of our monthly Refrigerator Premium package. For only $29.99/month you too can make ice in the comfort of your own home."
NOPE.
"The internet is so slow, anyone know why the fridge is uploading a 3TB file again? It's the third time this week."
NOOOOPE.
@pezmico Instead I think that the #1 risk is the wifi network name and/or password, as well as the other wifi networks names around, and Mac addresses on the network, to be leaked by the appliance to the vendor. This could then be used for geo location of the appliance, but also to track other wifi devices.
@pezmico the last one is probably the most likely, and most disruptive, and so COMPLETELY NOT NEEDED FOR A ****ING FRIDGE
There was a very expensive one with a touchscreen on the door and an "AI camera" feature, which supposedly suggests recipes using the stuff inside your fridge and tells you what you need to buy.
The mere thought of that aberration existing has plagued my nightmares since.
*shudder*
@pezmico there are some nice usecases imaginable, that would qualify for an appliance to be connected via smarthome or wlan. Or maybe even wired LAN.
But the real experience with enshittification in the revent years showed too clearly, that the price is too high for any of those. None of that is vital for an appliance to function (we have all those features allready), and no convenience function ever is worth that hassle and price of enshittification. Those industries can't be trusted.
@pezmico they also allow you to see what’s not in your fridge on their propietary SmartThings app when you’re at the supermarket.
At least until the app is no longer supported.
I never saw the point of putting what is an android tablet with a slow brain from at least two years ago in an appliance which should last 15 minimum. The tablets were always laggy even on the display models.
The tablet will be so out of date to the point of being unusable while the rest of the fridge continues working… if it isn’t software locked to stop working when the tablet does.
@pezmico extra the stuff of nightmares given many medications need to be stored in the fridge
@pezmico Black Mirror s07e01
@pezmico
Besides hackers, sooner or later the manufacturers will start wanting a monthly fee for the fridge to provide “cold as a service” - the ability to remotely stop it working is a feature, not a bug.
@OccasionalDucks Absolutely!
@pezmico this one would get the wifi one just so it could reflash it
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