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  • Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:mwl@io.mwl.io
    Feb 11, 2026, 12:29 PM

    Inspired by a discussion elsewhere:

    I've been on the Internet since 1987, started a career building the commercial Internet in 1995, and have spent the last 25 years writing books about how to build foundational Internet infrastructure. I've consulted for and worked with any number of dot-coms, and the one lesson I've gotten over and over again?

    The Internet's business model is betrayal.

    We have no smart lights. No voice assistants. No Alexa or Siri. No video doorbell. Our thermostat and appliances constantly complain about their lack of Internet. None of this stuff is safe.

    The Internet tech I do use? A desktop PC. Email on my phone is for travel only: airplane tickets, hotel reservations, hockey and concert tix. Location on my phone? Nope, we use a dedicated non-networked GPS in the car. The microphones are off.

    How can a light bulb betray me? I don't know. I do know that the vendors have put a LOT of thought into it, though, and I can't out-think all of them.

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  • Tall SimonTallSimon@mstdn.ca
    Feb 11, 2026, 1:13 PM

    @mwl It's been gratifying watching the kids go from their pre-teen whining, "you're so paranoid Dad", to so many "holy s--t, Dad, you were right!" moments.

    In the last few months I've had "thank you for not letting us have a phone until we were 16", "thank you for making us use Linux" ... 😁 "thank you for keeping us off social media."

    The latest is "can you get Grandad off Facebook, please?". 🙄

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  • I AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑‍🔥xinit@mastodon.coffee
    Feb 11, 2026, 2:36 PM

    @suetanvil Though, I suppose I can design and order my own.

    I found a site in the EU that I might make use of in the future -- shirttuning.nl

    Not for this exact design, mind you. That betrayal font is too silly for me.

    @mwl

    A picture of a blue t-shirt with two rows of text. Line one, in a small gray font: "The Internet's business model is" Line two, in a horrible, larger font that looks a bit like it's on fire: "BETRAYAL"
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  • The FrogLily_and_frog@mastodon.art
    Feb 12, 2026, 2:41 AM

    @xinit @suetanvil @mwl

    Lol!

    Back on the bird site, writing those words was like summoning a demon ready to Steel your soul... Well... intellectual property.

    People fought back by doing bad drawings of Mickey Mouse saying rude things, other ppl replying "they'd have that on a t-shirt" and then ratting the "shop" to Disney.

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  • Tall SimonTallSimon@mstdn.ca
    Feb 11, 2026, 4:39 PM

    @Ambulocetus @mwl

    /narrator "He thought he was being complimentary but, later that day, his use of quotes backfired badly." 🙂

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  • Carl Craven@fedi.raventhemaker.com
    Feb 11, 2026, 2:24 PM

    @mwl Oh, it's easy... when that light bulb depends on an external webserver to switch on, and the company goes Tango Uniform.

    I was interested in a little device that detected when my clothes dryer was finished and send me an alert on my phone. But it depended on that external service, and I knew it was a bad idea. A year, later, they went under and everyone's devices stopped working.

    The stupid thing is, these things don't _need_ to be dependent on an external service.

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  • Kerr Avonsen (she/her)kerravonsen@mastodon.au
    Feb 11, 2026, 9:24 PM

    @raven @mwl I am seriously concerned about my solar power. Specifically, the battery attached to it. I got the whole setup more than ten years ago, when I had no choice about what battery to use.... yes, it is a Tesla. Yes, it has an app, which requires a working internet. Am I going to LOSE POWER TO MY HOUSE when Tesla inevitably goes bankrupt? I got this setup specifically so that I would never lose power at all, ever. And it has been very good for that... so far.

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  • Tim Chasegumnos@bsd.cafe
    Feb 11, 2026, 2:28 PM

    @mwl we had similar issues trying to set up our "smart" TV. It begged and pleaded to let it connect to our Wifi, cajoling with all the marvelous subscription-services we could access if only we relented. After a half dozen dark-pattern screens, we were finally able to set it up as a dumb TV, taking only physically-connected inputs.

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  • DrScripttdrscriptt@oldbytes.space
    Feb 12, 2026, 4:21 AM

    @gumnos @mwl I’ve gotten to the point that I will give these types of things a WiFi network with nothing connected to the AP.

    It can be fun seeing what they do when they can associate but can’t get an IP. Or there isn’t a default gateway (DHCP isn’t a gw and doesn’t offer one). Or the default gateway doesn’t have any upstream.

    DNS, na, you don’t need that.

    Good luck to support trying to tell me these things are required.

    Also, 169.254.<bla>.0/24 is a perfectly valid network, I don’t care what you think.

    😈

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  • Tim Chasegumnos@bsd.cafe
    Feb 12, 2026, 12:14 PM

    @drscriptt

    I suspect the devices are kinder about getting *no* network than they are about getting unexpected network.

    @mwl

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  • int%rmitt]nt sig^al. ...~!...)nrmacdonald@mastodon.social
    Feb 11, 2026, 2:38 PM

    @mwl
    I have a very similar story. My car is a 2006 Toyota with buttons and knobs that I spend a bit too much to keep it functioning but still less than a new track me please master mobile.

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  • CelloMom On CarsCelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social
    Feb 11, 2026, 2:43 PM

    @mwl

    I paid extra for a home printer without WiFi.
    Just walk over and connect the cable.
    It's nobody's business what I print or scan.

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  • Bruce Heerssenbruce@darkmoon.social
    Feb 11, 2026, 4:11 PM

    @CelloMomOnCars @mwl

    Same, although in my case it was (I think) about $20 cheaper without wifi. In the past I've had it connected to a linux server so people could print wirelessly over the network, and that works really well and I know the printer isn't calling outside the network.

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  • George Bgbargoud@masto.nyc
    Feb 11, 2026, 3:31 PM

    @mwl

    Zigbee, Z-wave and Matter over Thread are pretty good protocols for smart devices that are worth looking into.

    With each of those, the devices form a mesh network across your home and connect to one hub to access anything outside of that mesh so you can get a lot more centralized control over their connection to the outside world than with anything on wifi.

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  • DoomsdaysCWDoomsdaysCW@kolektiva.social
    Feb 11, 2026, 4:01 PM

    @mwl We have similar views and backgrounds (I've been online since 1988, building websites since 1994), and I feel the same way you do. I mostly use computers, and only occasionally use my phone for travel. No talking devices (though hubby's speaker occasionally tells us it is powering down). Thank you for sharing your insights.

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  • Maximummium Overacticansaka_quant_noir@hcommons.social
    Feb 11, 2026, 4:19 PM

    @mwl All corporate media is built to betray it's users. All corporate activities are rent seeking. It's time we started shutting them down, before they shut us down.

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  • SirWumpus 🍁⚔️ 🛡️sirwumpus@tilde.zone
    Feb 11, 2026, 6:47 PM

    @mwl Consider car crank handle windows vs powered windows; one breaks down far less, use less energy, and are just as quick (unless you're so unfit that effort kills you).

    Consider paper maps vs tablet/phone/incar GPS). Paper maps always work, don't need recharging, gives a passenger something to do.

    Heat seats in cold climates are nice , but not necessary; you butt will warm up again.

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  • Danni Stormdanni_storm@hachyderm.io
    Feb 11, 2026, 8:30 PM

    @sirwumpus @mwl Not to be that person but there are many days my chronic fatigue would mean closed windows if it were still a crank. It's not just people who are unfit.

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  • Danni Stormdanni_storm@hachyderm.io
    Feb 12, 2026, 7:07 PM

    @mwl @rubyjones @sirwumpus The comparison I was referencing was between unpowered and powered windows.

    Thoug does anyone want to be forced to use an app to open their car window? That just seems ludicrous but my last car purchase was in 2019 so I haven't had to deal with any of the new shit car manufacturers are trying to get away with.

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  • David Houghllondel@mastodonapp.uk
    Feb 12, 2026, 11:53 PM

    @danni_storm @mwl @rubyjones @sirwumpus All those cars which are on-line and can be tracked and even disabled remotely. Adding a device to a car's CAN bus to allow monitoring or control too, for those not officially on-line. Or cars with electric-opened tailgates that will remain closed in the event of a major electrical fault. I know of someone who nearly lost his dog when his car caught fire and the back wouldn't open to give him access to the dog crate because it took out the electrics.

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  • Ana Tudor 🐯anatudor@mastodon.social
    Feb 11, 2026, 9:51 PM

    @sirwumpus @mwl I take it you've never had a map lead you down a street that ended in a construction site instead of leading to your destination. Because urban landscapes do change...

    PS - I've never owned any smart devices, not even a smartphone.

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  • SirWumpus 🍁⚔️ 🛡️sirwumpus@tilde.zone
    Feb 11, 2026, 9:59 PM

    @anatudor @mwl Lived in Sydney Oz for a few years, they have city street directories a cm or so thick (maybe more now). You'd need a new directory every few years for this reason. I prefer to do my own thinking and planning so l more comfortable with a real map, than relying on Google or Apple to lead the way. Plus I always find interesting surprises when I go "hors piste". Never owned a smartphone.

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  • Ana Tudor 🐯anatudor@mastodon.social
    Feb 12, 2026, 11:01 AM

    @sirwumpus @mwl When I was a little girl without a care in the world because my parents had them all, I would have loved "interesting surprises".

    But as an adult, I absolutely dread them. An interesting surprise may mean not arriving in time to catch my next bus or train in a place where I absolutely cannot afford to stay any longer. Without being able to afford any way of getting out of there other than walking tens or hundreds of km or hitchhiking. Give me boring over interesting any day.

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  • EarlEarl@mast.john1126.com
    Feb 11, 2026, 7:28 PM

    @mwl
    Your observation of built-in betrayal matches the origin of the World Wide Web. What is a net and what is a web used for? Is it not for catching or trapping a living being?

    The first web page was created and hosted at CERN. What is their goal?

    CERN seeks to:
    Use the "God particle" to probe hidden sectors.
    Find dark matter and dark forces.

    These dimensions were never intended to be opened by man.

    And they made the first web page. The battle between darkness and light continues....

    Image attached toot
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  • David Houghllondel@mastodonapp.uk
    Feb 12, 2026, 11:47 PM

    @Earl @mwl Well, the Big Bang was likely caused by someone in the previous universe running a particle accelerator and ripping a hole in the space-time continuum, through which their entire universe was pulled, and so created the conditions to start this one.

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  • EarlEarl@mast.john1126.com
    Feb 13, 2026, 1:13 AM

    @llondel @mwl
    "their entire universe was pulled"...
    If everything that was there is now here, how would this universe be any different from the first?

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  • Michael Weissmweiss@infosec.exchange
    Feb 11, 2026, 7:39 PM

    @mwl I started out with a "zero smart device" policy, too, though I did relax that some once I came to learn the details of the available technology. But the number of such devices I have is extremely small, and carefully curated and managed. Local control. If it won't work unless it has access to the Internet, then it's not mine and I don't want it.

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  • Jack Yan (甄爵恩)jackyan@mastodon.social
    Feb 12, 2026, 12:10 AM

    @mwl Powerful post, Michael. Like you, I have none of those gadgets you mention. Could never figure out how to connect one IoT heater we own so I didn’t. I keep my internet exposure very limited—in part because I saw no benefit to connecting gadgets to the internet, and in part because they tended to employ Big Tech, which I haven’t trusted in decades.

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  • Raj 🇬🇧🇪🇺💻🖥(🌻🇺🇦🇵🇸); EMF☎️2462realcainmosni@mastodon.me.uk
    Feb 12, 2026, 12:17 AM

    @mwl Sometimes it is not betrayal, it is simply laziness. Sometimes things are unsafe, not because they have been designed to be but simply because no-one thought it through.

    It's the old adage: never assign malice when stupidity is sufficient explanation.

    Networked bulbs (as with a lot of IoT) have been shown to be unsafe, purely because they leak your network traffic and credentials because no-one designed them not to.

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  • Ben Zaningnomon@mastodon.social
    Feb 12, 2026, 6:11 PM

    @mwl "How can a light bulb betray me?"

    You are gonna hate this

    Philips/Signify just added a new feature called MotionAware¹. It measures fluctuations in Zigbee signal strength between bulbs to act as a motion/presence sensor.

    They are also pushing hard for non-local user accounts², which means constant web connectivity.

    All the pieces are in place to monetize your family room occupancy habits to advertisers.

    Dystopian-ass timeline.

    ¹: philips-hue.com/en-us/support/

    ²: philips-hue.com/en-ca/explore-

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  • Russ SharekRussSharek@mastodon.art
    Feb 12, 2026, 6:27 PM

    @mwl @gnomon

    Gross!

    It seems like every day there's a new reveal which reinforces my decision to live like a fool on a hill.

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  • David Houghllondel@mastodonapp.uk
    Feb 12, 2026, 11:11 PM

    @mwl It wouldn't be too hard to include a sound transducer into an LED bulb. I wouldn't know, I don't use such things either. I do have a couple of IoT things in the house but they're on their own subnet to keep them away from the rest of my network traffic. OpenWRT on the router, in the hope that it will limit any leakage, and firewall blocks on stuff that doesn't need to talk to the outside world, to make people work a bit harder to use those devices.

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  • Євгенefhastings@twit.social
    Feb 13, 2026, 4:46 AM

    @mwl the next step is to inject noise into the information collected in those cases where some information leakage or disclosure is unavoidable.

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  • softproofsoftproof@mastodon.social
    Feb 14, 2026, 7:46 PM

    @mwl When replacing "connect" with "consume" the internet begins to make a lot more sense.

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  • NoBorghadon@mastodon.social
    Feb 15, 2026, 9:50 AM

    @mwl

    When radium was first discovered, charlatans tried to profit from it. They tried to sell radium in different products as a miracle cure for all sort of problems, with no scientific basis of course; and uninformed people, as always, fell on the scams.

    (1/3)

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  • NoBorghadon@mastodon.social
    Feb 15, 2026, 9:50 AM

    @mwl

    And now again, we have charlatans trying to convince you that if your fridge doesn't tell you what's inside it, you are not on vogue, if your coffee maker doesn't speak to you, you are missing a great opportunity of making a good friend or whatever :D
    (2/3)

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  • NoBorghadon@mastodon.social
    Feb 15, 2026, 9:51 AM

    @mwl

    Connected items are just a great opportunity for mean hackers to spy on you or use the machines as tools for massive attacks, and a huge waste of money leaving a heavy carbon imprint on the planet.

    Lights or machines are not smart, people are when they don't fall for the scam.
    (3/3)

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