Comment on Is it time to ring the alarm on internet door cameras?
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 2 months agomqtt
Doesn’t mqtt need a broker? (A server?) For me, putting mosquito in a docker or a pi isn’t a problem but that’s not plug and play for a regular person. Because once you introduce a server like that, it needs security patches and becomes a point of failure out of control of the iot vendor. I know I wouldn’t want to take the tech support call when the iot device doesn’t work and have to walk them through debugging a pi.
Septimaeus@infosec.pub 2 months ago
Yes, I only used mqtt because it’s a common low-level protocol in smart appliances that’s comparatively simple. A more accessible example might have been Smart TVs being half the price of dumb ones (if you can even find them now) since the principle is the same.
I agree that support is one of the main things cloud legitimately makes easier. Support personnel have more reliable case data, more robust central control, and so forth.
And I think you’ll agree many smart home folks already have/had hubs and bridges (servers) floating around that obfuscate most of that complexity without the need for always-on WAN access. Remote maintenance (patches, firmware updates, etc) don’t necessarily preclude a plug and play experience.
Whether this accounts for the cost and complexity differential consumers experience can be debated, but my point was simpler. Cloud-based products are artificially subsidized in at least two ways. The first is that they’re a loss leader facilitating platform lock-in, but the second is that rich usage data from intimate user contexts is quite valuable to the endless parade of marketing voyeurs.