Whatever happened to Peak Oil?

[FlyerInHi]

From an average person’s point of view is that really crazy?

Do you use gmail or do you run your own server? Do you use use credit cards or online banking?

The average person probably supports anti-terrorism laws. But those same laws are used to track everyone. I’ve done business wirh people from Syria, Iran, Lebanon… I don’t think that anyone is tracking me per se; but through 6 degrees of separation, I’m sure I’m in a database somewhere. The data is there waiting to be mined.

[spdrun]

Stopped using Gmail a long time ago and do have my own server (for mail and files).

Online banking is a different question because it’s just accessing data that were always available from a bank through a different means. I only use credit cards for online purchases or stuff that I want to track, namely business expenses. For everything else, a good, old-fashioned roll of $20’s, withdrawn from the bank works just dandy and reduces stress. I know exactly how much I’m giving the merchant and don’t have to worry about checking credit card statements for overcharges.

None of those things are giving home occupancy data or (worse!) video from the premises (Dropcam) to a bunch of corporate dirtbags like Google. There’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed, and voluntarily installing telescreens from 1984 falls on the wrong side of it.

As far as the average person supporting anti-terrorism laws, the average person is a brainwashed idiot. But even they’re getting wise. Read the comments about some of the articles about the NYPD slowdown in NYC — popular sentiment seems to be more than half in favor of less pro-active policing at this point. I’d have never thought it in the US, but sentiment is gradually swinging to be more libertarian end.

[FlyerInHi]

Would you drive a Tesla with LTE built in?

[FlyerInHi]

Libertarian shift you’re seeing is self serving.
Most people do drugs of some kind or another, or know someone who does . Btw sugar is a drug. Make drugs legal and you eliminate lots of crimes.

[spdrun]

After I disconnect the antenna cable, sure. If it wouldn’t operate without LTE, then hell no.

(But that’s unlikely, since that would preclude people in areas with no signal owning Teslas.)

I’d happily accept the tiny added risk of dying in an accident to have the privacy enhancement of no telematics. I might re-connect it at defined intervals for updates.

But in general, I like the IDEA of Teslas. All-electric car, cool. The interiors make me hurl. I want buttons and knobs that I can use with gloves on and feel while driving, not a giant iPad staring me in the face. The original Roadster was perfect as far as user interface. Model S is a big downgrade.

[spdrun]

Self-serving or not, it’s an interesting trend and goes against where America has been going for the past 35 or so years. All politics are ultimately self-serving.

[FlyerInHi]

I don’t think that Tesla LTE is made to be disconnected. If you do, it will cost you at lot of money to repair for updates.
And what’s the point? The black box saves the data when not communicating. Then it sends it when data link returns.

[spdrun]

https://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/tmi_privacy_statement_external_6-14-2013_v2.pdf

Location data are not stored, only available in real-time. If it has LTE capability, it has an antenna that can be either shielded, jammed, or disconnected. It will still download updates as needed when the antenna is allowed to communicate.

It doesn’t need 24/7 connectivity, otherwise it wouldn’t be able to drive through rural areas with no mobile service.

[FlyerInHi]

If you trust that Tesla doesn’t keep location data, then why bother disconnecting LTE.

You’re causing yourself a lot of trouble, it seems.

[spdrun]

Tesla can access it so long as LTE is connected. They can’t download logs of it.

(Especially if the GPS antenna is also disconnected so there are no data to log. I don’t need NAV – I can damn well read a map.)

[FlyerInHi]

So you trust Tesla about what is or not stored locally in the back box. But you don’t trust them concerning the data stored on their cloud servers.

You will hack the Tesla black box just to make sure, I suppose. Like people jailbreaking the iPhone. But they still carry it around so that location data is being sent to the carrier, and Apple.

BTW, Honeywell has the new Lyric thermostat using geofencing. I have not yet tried it out. So far I like the Nest the most.

spd, don’t get me wrong, I understand your point about privacy. But I share my homes with friends, relatives and guests. I cannot rely on anyone to manually turn off HVAC. The Nest is saving me a lot of money.

I had non-smart wifi thermostat before, but I often forgot to turn HVAC off.

[spdrun]

Correct. I wouldn’t necessarily hack it, but I’d be happy to physically disconnect antennas.

And I don’t carry my cell 24/7. I often go out and leave it at home when I’m not in a position to answer work calls anyway.

Or, when I have it, I often leave it in flight mode and check VM periodically — less distracting that way.

As far as a thermostat, I wonder if wiring the HVAC to a switch near the door would be as effective as a fancy-schmancy thermostat. Switch in the “ON” position causes the HVAC to do whatever the thermostat tells it to. When it’s “OFF”, it switches to a setting of 55F in cool mode or 85F in heat mode.

It would be no less intuitive than turning off the lights when you leave. And for multiple doors, you could have several momentary-contact switches working in parallel.

[FlyerInHi]

Yes, but if you forget to flip the switch, the HVAC will run, needlessly costing you money.

I don’t much care about forgetting to turn off lights because LED lighting is cheap. But I do have zwave light switches I can control remotely.

The nice thing about about Nest thermostat is that it requires no user action. That’s what smart is all about. And smart is how we will save energy in the aggregate and still maintain the same comfort levels.

BTW, the utilities have programs to automatically adjust thermostats a few degrees, for homeowners who participate. They save a lot of capacity doing that. Homeowners can bypass, or more often than not, they don’t notice any change in comfort level, in the aggregate.

[spdrun]

I’ll pick stupid, slightly less efficient, but PRIVATE any day. This being said, there’s no reason why occupancy sensors can’t talk directly to a thermostat that doesn’t divulge personal info to third parties, yet is directly accessible over the Internet. Spyware doesn’t need to be included for efficiency, or can be opt-in.

Keep in mind that with IPv6, direct communication between devices on the Internet without third-party mediation will become super easy. (IPv6 theoretically allows every atom on the surface of the Earth to have a static IP times 100).

As far as the utility programs, a correctly designed thermostat could poll a server run by the utility for instructions rather than the utility accessing it directly. One could install 3rd party code (i.e. “an app”) on a given thermostat to do so without any privacy risk.

[FlyerInHi]

You’re correct about the technology.

I’m however talking about what’s available now, and what can be done to save energy now.

I told my neighbor about changing out all the can incandescent lights to LED. That went right over his head. Didn’t seem interested. In the mean time he’s running the AC and paying money to get rid of all the excess heat.

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