Internet of Things startup Garadget remotely bricked an unhappy customer’s WiFi garage door for giving a bad Amazon review and being rude to company reps. Garadget device owner [Robert Martin] found out the hard way how quickly the device can turn a door into a wall. After leaving a negative Amazon review, and starting a thread on Garadget’s support forum complaining the device didn’t work with his iPhone, Martin was banned from the forum until December 27, 2019 for his choice of words and was told his comments and bad Amazon review had convinced Garadget staff to ban his device from their servers.
The response was not what you would expect a community-funded startup. “Technically there is no bricking, though,” the rep replied. “No changes are made to the hardware or the firmware of the device, just denied use of company servers.” Tell that to [Robert] who can’t get into his garage.
This caused some discontent amoung other customers wondering if it was just a matter of time before more paying customers are subjected to this outlandish treatment. The Register asked Garadget’s founder [Denis Grisak] about the situation, his response is quoted below.
It was a Bad PR Move, Martin has now had his server connection restored, and the IOT upstart has posted a public statement on the matter.– Garadget
This whole debacle brings us to the conclusion that the IoT boom has a lot of issues ahead that need to be straightened out especially when it comes to ethics and security. It’s bad enough to have to deal with the vagaries of IoT Security and companies who shut down their products because they’re just not making enough money. Now we have to worry about using “cloud” services because the people who own the little fluffy computers could just be jerks.
It is surprisingly common for IoT devices, even stupidly simple ones, to be server dependent like this. I snagged all the remaining IoT remote-controlled electrical outlets at my local Home Depot when they decided to switch brands and slashed the price. They’re actually nicely made relays with ESP8266 brains, but the native firmware contacts a server in China. There are two obvious reasons for this; one is that the outlets do not have their own batteries or RTC chips so depend on the server to keep accurate time for their timer functions. The other is so that you don’t have to do any setup for your phone to find the outlet from outside your wifi network; the outlet contacts the server, the phone contacts the server, and the server forwards information between the two.
Of course, when the server is turned off, all these outlets will become little manual switches, assuming the manual on/off button even still works. I have no plans to use any of them without reprogramming. One of them is already an automatic timer for a lapidary saw, justifying the purchase of the whole lot.
Is it really too much to ask for a device with AES-256 and no internet connectivity for a device as simple as a wireless garage door opener these days?
It’s Ham Radio Deluxe all over again… plus hardware!
And here we are; a brilliant demonstration of why WE don’t need the “cloud” … and why our masters are desperately ramming this thing down our throat.
I hooked mine to my alarm so I can use my fob to control the door and alarm at the same time..
Since my alarm is connected to my automation PC I can therefore control it via the interwebs…
It’s 100% local though, so I don’t depend on anyone else or the internet for my door…
It’s nice if I’m out working in the yard I can either web, text or even hit up a NFC tag on the door (this activates a web link that sends a push message to my phone to authorize the actual opening) if I need access to a tool or something and forgot my keys in the house… It’s not that huge a deal to run a grab my keys but it’s very convenient to be able to do it all while I’m walking up to the door… Plus it’s cool!
When you invest in any form in to a kickstarter type campaign you’re usually just giving money to whoever was best at marketing.. This why it’s so abused.
Recently I seen someone using one to pay for their vacation..
#1 issue is IoT requires power to work. If the mains are down can you get in? Can you get out?
#2 is “all of the other issues pointed out in the above comments”. And they are numerous.
Too many issues THAT YOU NEVER HAD BEFORE. That should be “Nuff said” for everyone to make a quick and easy decision… yet the interest and want for these still persist.
My thinking is that marketing has successfully hacked the minds of a huge percentage of the public. If your control of the house has to be routed outside of the house then YOU don’t have control of the house, they do, and you function only at their pleasure and at most ONLY UP TO the reliability of your Internet and Mains Power and Payments made and them not going bankrupt. You’ve added at least 3 points of failure to your home that you have no actual “Admin” control over. Grandma says; “Shame on you!”.
If you have an IoT device controlling anything you need absolute reliability from, then you do not have absolute reliability.
This is just a FAD… as foolish as those from the ’60s.
The repeated post from “Red Dwarf” honestly should have ended all discussion ALL ON ITS OWN… but seems you’ll have to learn via “Natural Consequences” as usual.
Well done
This is very funny but it also highlights an important point that does concern many smart home users that are concerned about privacy. If your device is connected to the Internet and a third party’s server, how much control and privacy do you truly have?!
Great post. We should stay better informed about our “smart homes” that turn out to be less than smart concerning security.
The major concerns of #IoT smart home devices are the potential threats to #security & #privacy.
I just wrote an article on the subject. Read more http://bit.ly/2pxCA9b Let me know what you think!
I’m sure I read a similar story years ago…