Posted on 12/18/2021 7:19:51 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
The recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage is a powerful reminder about the detriments of “smart” technology, which is gone in an instant once the “cloud” goes down.
One wonders how many thousands (millions?) of people out there were left without working doorbells, Roomba vacuum cleaners and even refrigerators that normally run on AWS but no longer could during the outage.
According to reports, the disruption began at around 10am EST on December 7. It left many packages unable to be delivered, many streaming media services were down, and patrons of Walt Disney Co. theme parks were unable to enter due to the automation involved with ticket processing and scanning.
Anything that runs on the Amazon “Alexa” system was also disabled, as were people’s Ring smart-doorbell units and other cloud-driven appliances and tech tools.
Sure, these things seem cool in theory. But the reality is that linking to the cloud means that you are also dependent on the cloud. And if the cloud goes away, then suddenly the “smart” life you set up for yourself is over in an instant.
“Irate device users tweeted their frustrations to Ring’s official account, with many complaining that they spent time rebooting or reinstalling their apps and devices before finding out on Twitter that there was a general Amazon Web Services outage,” reported Bloomberg Quint.
“Multiple Ring users even said they weren’t able to get into their homes without access to the phone app, which was down.”
Hilariously, Christmas was cancelled for many that day as the Amazon cloud refused to turn on their Christmas lights. Others were unable to turn on the lights in their own house because smart lightbulbs stopped responding to voice commands.
It was probably just an excuse, but many people also reported that performing basic household chores also became “impossible” because all of their smart appliances just stopped working.
“The outage prompted people to reflect on the pitfalls of having a ‘smart’ home that’s overly dependent on not only the internet, but one company in particular – while those with ‘dumb’ homes gloated that their fridges and light switches were working just fine,” Bloomberg Quint further reported.
“Several of the affected AWS operations were on the East Coast. AWS said about nine hours later that it has resolved the network device issues that led to the outage.”
Hopefully this little fiasco was enough to wake at least some people up as to the true nature of smart living. Is it really smart to give total control of your life over to the likes of Jeff Bezos, whose cloud services now decide whether or not certain people can live their lives?
What happens when AWS potentially goes down for good? Then what? Do people really want to live under the control of the tech hive? Would it not be more prudent to take back control of your own life, even at the risk of being called “dumb” as opposed to smart?
“I have no idea why anyone would ever have this in their house!” wrote one Natural News commenter on an article about how “smart” Alexa devices are always listening and could be used by the evil ones to blackmail someone.
“My son got an Amazon Alexa. He’s turned into a sheep,” wrote another. “I have warned him that these corrupted things listen in but to no avail. He will have to learn the hard way.”
More of the latest news about the pitfalls of the “internet of things” can be found at Collapse.news.
Only my mattress, AC and TV are connected to the cloud, in addition to my laptop, tablet and phone. So I should be ok.
Thanks for the information.
My tolerance of risk is low so I use mechanical not electrical whenever possible.
I have a automatic garage opener BUT I also can open the door with the key and go in and.... ahhhhhh! Some one hung a noose in my garage! Call the FBI!
Oh... wait. It is just my pull rope to open the door manually. Never mind.
Sorry. My refrigerator says I can’t read that article. Or else.
Sad when your source is Kevin posting on Quora ...
“The Cloud” is a marketer’s name for some other guy’s computer.
Your Roomba is just waiting for the Skynet connection to be enabled ... then watch out.
I’ve been looking at home automation. Not necessarily for the home but for a high tunnel which is an unheated greenhouse with plastic film covering. I want to be able to open/close vents and maybe the drop down sides based on temperature and maybe wind speed, run a drip irrigation system based on soil moisture instead of a timer+volume. It’s hard to find stuff that doesn’t need/want the web.
Home Assistant is a good system but even with all of the 3rd party components I’ve found, you have to register with and connect to the website to set up the a sensor and/or add your login to some Home Assistant code. The more private components work on bluetooth which doesn’t have the range I need but then you can get a middleman component but it wants to use the web in some form.
I’m not buying a big brand name with proprietary software and put out by google/amazon or by some company that utilizes them. If I can’t do it open source with no internet needed, I’ll do it the old fashioned, less accurate, less flexible way. I’m good up to my own WiFi, possibly dedicated to this one system separate from my PC but I’m not going to have any data leaving the property if I can help it.
“I believe Teslas cannot operate without an Internet connection.”
Well, the owners certainly cannot function without it 24/7
As I said, there is NO phone service in these areas I spoke of either.
Teslas will communicate when they can, but they do not REQUIRE a cellphone signal to run, otherwise there would be a LOT of dead teslas by the side of most mountain roads.
And your point is?
Blackouts happen.
That’s not a reason to abandon electricity.
All I want is a “smart” thermostat that can be used WITHOUT the “cloud”. That is, it has a built-in web server like every SOHO router has had for 20 years now.
The only one I’ve been able to find is for commercial applications and costs $500.
Most Federal government agencies are putting their infrastructure in the “cloud”.
There doesn’t seem to be any cost savings to doing so.
Well their heads aren’t in the cloud because they’re up their asses.
The technology trap is rapidly closing in.
Cream cheese shortage due to internet connection at largest US supplier.
“That’s not a reason to abandon electricity.”
But, it is an excellent reason to not be totally dependent on iFag 3-4-5g service 24/7 or even lights. It is hilarious how the sheep panic when their precious smartphones cannot text.
And have a fire place.
And some water.
Because the lights do go out.
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