"There is no evidence that the data is being sold to third parties . . . "
Don’t be naive. Of course it is.
My washing machine has the ability to connect to Wi-Fi but I never set it up. Of course it’s a horrible idea just on the surface and it really serves no purpose.
why THE FUCK does a washisng machine need wifi??
Recorded audio, sent back to the corporate office to be transcribed and sold to 3rd parties.
Crypto mining?
If it was a dryer I could understand it from a functional standpoint, I feel like my clothes are rarely dry after the first cycle so it would be cool to be able to start the second without needing to be in front of it. But I’m both stretching and lazy
Yeah, is it really necessary to somehow control your laundry while you’re at work? You start it before you leave, and when you get home, it’s done. It’s not like you can use your cell phone to move the wet clothes into the drier anyway, so who cares?
And what kind of data are they collecting, anyway? How many times I do laundry? It’s not like they can tell which brands or products I’m using. It seems like useless empty data.
This is reddit levels of reposting. This article is 19 months old.
This article is 19 months old.
And just as relevant today as it was then. Also reddit: I haven’t seen this (particular) article before, so it’s worth reposting so I and people like me get the message.
I factory reset my LG TV and refused to give it the WiFi password when they said they were going to use AI to analyze what people were watching on the TV to know best what ads to show us. Fuck that.
The TV is excellent as a dumb TV. Don’t need internet access.
Yeah, I’ve still got all dumb TVs, with small PCs connected. Best possible setup.
all dumb TVs, with small PCs connected.
This is the way. (DACO: Disney also chickens out.)
My TV was sending so much telemetry (blocked by piHole) that from time to time it would freeze and/or lag to the point when it is unusable. I turned wifi off - never had any issues yet.
Also, it TV had over 80% of requests off all my devices in a half a year. It basically tried to ping home every 5 seconds for days.
I would pay extra if I could still buy a washing machine with no electronics in it. They maytag of my youth lasted 3 decades without repair or maintenance (tho it was loud as fuck at the end) I especially can’t imagine feeling the need to make a washing machine internet connected.
They really should have options with transparent pricing:
Mechanical washing machine $500: 350 + 150 for the warranty to cover mechanical control system breakage
Electronic washing machine $400: 300 + 100 for the warranty to cover electronic control system problems
Smart washing machine $275: $300 + 75 for warranty (less due to remote update option) - 100 for our anticipated profit on your data
The last time my dryer went out, it was going to cost a few hundred to fix it. Instead, I took off the cover on the controls, found the circuit board, found the ID numbers on it, Googled them, found it from some electronic supply place, ordered it, removed two screws and unclipped the old one, plugged in the new one and secured it with the 2 screws, and it still works, more than 10 years later. Cost about $50 for the circuit board.
If the mechanics of a washer or dryer still work, then it’s probably just the circuit board.
My maytag is still running after 20+, but like you said its kinda noisy
You’re lucky, our Maytag from 10 years ago was a piece of junk, dead after 7.
Probably just needs the suspension replaced.
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Must be bitcoin laundering.
LG: We are proud to introduce our groundbreaking next generation technology - washing machine based cloud services for businesses
Unironically an innovative way to drive the heating element
You got a genuine laugh out of me. Amazing.
I think you win the internet for today. You could also be right.
Never seen a washing machine take someone to the cleaners before.
My grandma used to say the shit you own ends up p0ning you.
Yeah, my grandma was a big fan of the Fight Club too…
My grandma used to say no cap fam, bussin fr ong.
My grandma told me to buy NVDA and I was like “yeah right grandma”
Git gud kid
My washing machine has wifi, but I have never even been slightly interested in enabling it. I set up a monitor to notify when done by monitoring the power consumption of the breaker. Once it drops back down to zero after a couple of minutes, it triggers a notification. I don’t know what else I could ever need.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT
Welp, clothes are done.
What is this devil technology?
Some machines are now hiding specific features inside apps. At least that’s the case for some dishwashers.
My washer and dryer both do that.
They still wash and dry, though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
🫠
Remote start is what I want personally. Timers get 90% of the way there, but if you want to run your machine when power is cheap, needs a bit more granularity. Also, end notification is one thing, but getting a “remaining time” status is also useful for the particularly lazy among us :)
Ah, my power isn’t cheaper at certain times, so I didn’t think of that. I wonder if you could control and monitor all of it with an ESP32.
I’ve thought about soldering one to some of the indicator leds and the start button, but that would require a lot of disassembly that I couldn’t bother with yet.
Probably could, but thats messy and out of reach for most of the general public. I’d consider myself capable, and I still haven’t done it despite wanting to.
I’d settle for appliances providing a standardised port for control/monitoring, that you can plug in your own ESP32 controller. Harder to sell to the general public.
Rheeme Econet devices do this. They have an app to control them, but there’s also a diagnostic port that exposes everything in the app and a lot more. There’s an esp32 project that connects to the port and brings all of that into Home Assistant, no app or wifi needed.
Thats awesome, will keep that in mind for the next upgrade.
While we are shouting out cool projects, for Mitsubishi electric aircon: https://github.com/echavet/MitsubishiCN105ESPHome
There is also one for daiken, but I haven’t directly tried it.
A tech-savvy San Francisco resident has sparked conversation online after he shared a perplexing discovery about his LG washing machine’s seemingly voracious appetite for data on X (formerly Twitter).
In a post with more than 7 million views, Johnie Lee shared a screenshot of his machine’s data usage, which showed around 3.6GB of daily data usage. For context, 3GB of data is the rough equivalent of streaming high-definition video for an hour on a device.
Results found that smart washing machines are collecting a significant amount of user data, including personal information such as date of birth, location, and even access to photos.
There is no evidence that the data is being sold to third parties, but the prolonged lifespan of washing machines has begun to raise questions about long-term data tracking.
So close.
What I was referencing in inaccuracy of the router is the attribution of 622 bytes to Apple iMessage.
still not everything.
There was gigabytes of data being uploaded from the IP address of the >washer. I have segregated this device to its own network and logging data >usage.
I have yet to hear from LG on how to reset/update the firmware or how to >fix the rogue washing machine.
There is no evidence that the data is being sold to third parties
Oh well, that’s all good then. /s
Before: runs on watts
Now: runs on gigabytes
I really hope that people get the reference here or this gonna sound mean… then again this is Lemmy, a nerd crowd if I ever found one.:-P
Why did you give it network access, you dumb cu-. Actually, never mind that: Why didn’t you just buy a washing machine? You know, a machine that washes things.
Fair point, but OTOH we need people like that as whistleblowers.
I once listened to a 3h podcast about analyzing Amazon’s collected user data (they have to send it to you on request). One could argue that the author shouldn’t use Amazon so much, duh. But it was super important, revealing stuff and made big waves.
Bought a new dishwasher for my parents a couple of months ago and every single available model (at the store) had wifi/app connectivity. I could turn it off but there’s no “simple” devices available. Some of them require the app to set the machine up or at least make it harder to do without it. I mean a washing machine needs to be emptied relatively quick after it finishes washing so I at least see some use to a notification but a dishwasher? Fuck that.
Why would it need to be emptied quick?
I usually set mine to work overnight (when power’s cheaper) and take it out in the morning. Makes air drying outside more convenient as well, since it maximizes solar availability.
Not to mention, my machine is chugging along perfectly fine. 26 years and counting.
If you leave clothes sitting in a washing machine for more than a few hours they will start to mildew and smell terrible. Then you end up having to rewash everything. Or smell like mildew I guess, if thats your thing
People say this but I’ve yet to have that happen. Have had to leave it overnight sometimes, no issue.
Fair point.
Using laundry disinfectant and the self-cleaning program on the machine does help, however. If it gets so bad that it does get mildewy, I rewash on the quick cycle and do a thorough clean of the machine itself.
In which f*ssil country is power cheaper at night!?
The utterly terrible country of France. Y’know, the one with the most checks notes nuclear plants.
Depends on network load, power is cheapish for me right now but much better than peak. During the day around 11am onwards energy is dirt cheap, and sometimes (rarely) dips into the negatives.
Provider offers wholesale rates plus a flat fee. There are some protections in place to shield consumers from massive bills when the rate jumps to $$/KWh
In the UK it’s known as Economy 7.
Aren’t spot price electricity contracts available in the US (I assume)?
