Bonum Certa Men Certa

Listening Devices Marketed as 'Smart' Speakers (Microphones) and Other 'Smart' Stuff Which Does Not Do What They Tell You

Beacons inside one's home are aggressively marketed with COVID-19 as a convenient and timely pretext (spying on us to 'protect' us from human contact)

Stop ‘smart’ meters
Eyes and ears inside the home



Summary: Regressive technology that gives control over our lives to increasingly sociopathic and imperialistic institutions ought not be adopted and popularised; they view themselves as "masters" over our most private parts/aspects of life

THE grim reality of supposedly 'smart' technology is rather daunting if introduced overnight, especially that 'trendy' technology with misleading names and labels. They come up with lots of brands and dishonest descriptions (e.g. "assistant") to push these things into more and more homes. In some countries it's gradually becoming impossible to receive gas and electricity without having a so-called 'smart' meter (in effect somebody else's device connected to one's home network, collecting data with a bunch of sensors attached to objects inside the home).



"In some countries it's gradually becoming impossible to receive gas and electricity without having a so-called 'smart' meter (in effect somebody else's device connected to one's home network, collecting data with a bunch of sensors attached to objects inside the home)."For over a decade we've been warning about back doors and eavesdropping -- an issue acknowledged by rather rare and few individuals at the time (a suppressed subject in mainstream media, which does not strive to inform but to empower the state and oligarchs connected it). Prior to Snowden's NSA leaks we probably lacked a sufficient amount of hard evidence; instead we relied on people with (indirect and/or former) access to spies and spying agencies/networks. They spoke about this, some published books about the subject, but they didn't bring out documents to prove it. It's likely that publication of such documents would have had them legally prosecuted, maybe even relying on exile/asylum in Russia just to avoid prison (Snowden would face imprisonment if he returned to the US, as revealed last month in the Julian Assange extradition case in London).

If technology was (still) meant to serve users rather than oppress users, it wouldn't have gone in this Orwellian direction. But we very well know that technology is evolving along the lines of social control rather then social liberation. It's being designed and refined along the lines of seed funding from the military (or arms of the imperialism-serving apparatus, typically 5-Eyes). In China the technology firms are closely connected to the regime, whereas in the West this relationship is more cleverly disguised and each big company pretends that it's protecting our privacy while valuing our security. People are promoted (moving up the career ladder) based on their ability to lie to us about it... with a straight face.

"If technology was (still) meant to serve users rather than oppress users, it wouldn't have gone in this Orwellian direction."The same NSA chief whom Snowden exposed (Keith Alexander) was recently added to Amazon's Board of Directors. They're not even subtle about those sorts of things anymore. Might as well rebrand Amazon and change its logo to something with a missile and imperial eagles. As for Microsoft, people have a rough idea what it has always been up to. It's literally being run by a bunch of thugs and criminals who grin at us.

‘Smart’ metersI've long made a very simple and candid observation: if Microsoft vanished, we'd still have problems. If Windows had sub-1% market share, we'd still lack freedom. The seed funding would still be funnelled into companies that combat human dignity to empower those who control the state (in the West that's typically oligarchs, who amassed in personal wealth almost as much as the whole national debt, rendering it merely a passage of wealth, not an unavoidable deficit). It ought not be so shocking that Bill Gates was a supremely close friend of a sex trafficking bankster who offered young girls even to our so-called 'royal' family. We should not be surprised that the corporate media no longer seems to care about that; instead, in exchange for money from Gates, it's promoting companies he is investing in (for profit) while (mis)treating him like a vaccine guru without disclosing that he's actually a vaccine profiteer.

"The idea of having something called "smart" or "assistant" inside the home may seem alluring on the surface (it's a superficiality targeting insecure and gullible people)."Social control can be attained in all sorts of ways, including blackmail. Mass surveillance is a 'dirt-digging' expedition that makes more and more people potential victims of blackmail, either by peer (e.g. partner) or by the state, or both. That sort of blackmail was demonstrated, for instance, when MLK was recorded having sex (it's nowadays known as SEXINT). The FBI, which treated him like enemy of the state, then used those for extortion (an apparent attempt to kill MLK). In a similar fashion the state can leverage information to control (by deterrence if not public shaming) those who are relatively powerful, including the so-called 'royal' family. It's an instrument of control and the more they know (better to also have evidence of, e.g. video, audio or both), the more they can manipulate people. Those can be politicians, entertainers, high-profile athletes, philosophers and so on.

‘Smart’ meters for the stateThe idea of having something called "smart" or "assistant" inside the home may seem alluring on the surface (it's a superficiality targeting insecure and gullible people). If received as a "gift", it might be hard to reject it because it can offend the buyer and/or feel like a wasted product. The Web is constantly being spammed with paid-for 'articles' for/by companies that sell such devices; they tell people that they need one or urge people to buy such devices for a "loved one". We're being brainwashed/indoctrinated/conditioned to believe that many people actually want these and would appreciate those things as a "gift". If rejected and passed on to another person (not the original recipient), these devices would then harm someone else, potentially along with tenants who share the same household. So the only solution is to put an end to manufacturing and advertising of such malicious things, which truly empower only those who deserve no power (they cannot be trusted; they're on ego trips). Like that aforementioned Amazon Board of Directors with Keith Alexander inside it. He used to work for banks after his abuses inside the NSA were exposed. Big Brother, Big Banks... Big Money. He now works for Jeff Bezos. Big shot!

With Christmas a couple of months away and people remotely communicating with friends and family ("Winter is Coming" means overcrowded hospitals are imminent) there will be this temptation to buy so-called 'smart' things, which are spying devices (or "bugs") wrapped up in cheap festive paper, a carton box and lots of plastics with a computer chip at the heart of it, ready to connect to the local network or to another device perpetually connected to the local network.

Big Brother is waiting. It's listening. If it's not listening (yet), then it's waiting for you to buy more 'smart' devices, either for yourself or for somebody else.

Screenshot sources: What are ‘Smart’ Meters? | Is your smart meter spying on you?

Recent Techrights' Posts

25 Years With PalmOS
That my Palm PDA still works in 2026 (not in mint condition but close to that) says a lot about the "build quality" of gadgets 20+ years ago
Microsoft Has Spent Months Preparing Lists of People to Cull in Massive Wave of Layoffs (Allegedly Start of July)
There is some consensus that we're weeks away from mega-layoffs at Microsoft
Gemini Links 06/06/2026: "Competing" With LLMs and "Automation of Any Kind"
Links for the day
IBM is "Making an Exit". Only the Executives Will Get Rich.
failure disguised as success
2026 is the Year of Blockchains, Says IBM's CEO a Decade Ago?
"falling upwards"
Most Coders Used to be Women, Not Men (and Men Who Dropped Out of College Now Plunder Everything They Can)
"Ethics For Hackers"
 
Links 06/06/2026: LinkedIn Infested With Spies, Ethernet WiFi Router On Pi Pico 2W
Links for the day
Why We Dumped Online Shopping (Groceries)
subsidies kept the "online" stuff artificially cheap
Microsoft Fell to All-Time Low in Monaco Last Month
So says statCounter anyway
Lawsuits That Don't Work
Not as expected anyway
SLAPP Censorship - Part 99 Out of 200: Graveley and Garrett Seem to Have Crashed Brett Wilson LLP (Worse Than Taking Russian Oligarchs as SLAPP Clients)
a state of disarray
Links 06/06/2026: 'Linux' Foundation Openwashing Slop on Microsoft's Payroll, Ukraine Wants Permanent Ceasefire With Russia
Links for the day
50% of the 'Gains' Made by "Quantum" Hype Already Evaporated
"It was all hype about quantum nonsense. Heading back to reality now. Expect sub-$220 after earnings release next month."
Heap of Trash Online, Not Just the Fault of LLM Slop But Enabled by Slop
Google News has just promoted a pair of prolific slopfarms
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 05, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, June 05, 2026
Links 05/06/2026: Lawyers in Trouble for Citing Cases That Don't Exist (Slop Too Bad to Justify Costs; Even It It Did Work, It Would Still be Far Too Expensive)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/06/2026: Bears in the Streets, WWII Revisionism, and Westworld
Links for the day
Microsoft's LinkedIn Called "Dying Platform" by One Who Worked There
The co-founder of LinkedIn has just stepped down too
GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) Layoffs Are Due to Surging Debt, or About 120 Billion Dollars Borrowed in One Year Alone
It's well above 150 billion dollars if one adds Oracle
After One Jeffrey Epstein Associate 'Leaves' Microsoft's Board Another Jeffrey Epstein Associate Steps Down, Workers Concerned About the Mass Layoffs
How many more loans can Microsoft receive? Those loans are becoming increasingly risky.
IBM Exploits Overambitious, Hungry Young Men to Help the "Great Quantum Hype Campaign" (Pumping the Stock Based on Deliberate Misinformation or Outright Disinformation)
The boot-licking campaign is live...
What Will Likely Happen When the Slop Bubble Pops (and When It'll be Widely Accepted That It Popped)
all the "most successful" slop companies are so deep in debt
The Register MS is Part of the Problem, It's Publishing "AI" SPAM Because it's Paid by Chinese Military-Connected Firms
Given that The Register MS is run by a Microsofter (since last summer), destruction seems inevitable
IBM's CEO Does Not Use GNU/Linux, So Why Did He Suggest Buying Red Hat Only to Lay Off Its Workers, Market Slop Instead of Linux, and Sack UNIX Professionals?
Shortly after IBM had bought Red Hat and there were mass layoffs we pointed out that Red Hat's CEO was not using GNU/Linux
If You're Not Focusing on Software Freedom, All You'll Get is Slopware and Buzzwords
If you're not focusing on attaining Software Freedom (and remember "Linux" is just a brand), then you're losing sight of the goals that actually matter
Red Hat/IBM: Microsoft is Our Partner of the Year
Red Hat is a really bad gravy
Gemini Links 05/06/2026: Enshittification of Institutes for Project Management, Codebases Contaminated With Slop, Personal Stories
Links for the day
Communicating With Freedom - Part II - Quibble Breathing New Life Into LibreJS
Notice how work on one thing led to thousands of lines of code added to a mostly dormant (but nevertheless important) project
Slop Has no ROI, an Economy Built on False Assumptions of Slop is Doomed
we're all going to suffer from this Ponzi scheme
Links 05/06/2026: More GAFAM Layoffs, Google Faces Regulatory Crackdown in UK Over Plagiarism in "AI" Clothing
Links for the day
Rumour That Layoffs at Microsoft Will Kick Off on July 1st, 2026 (Impacting 10,000 or More Workers)
this is what the rumour mill or the word through the grapevine is
Mission:Libre, Which Teaches Young People Free Software Ideals, Needs Financial Backing
plea for assistance with Mission:Libre
The Slop Ponzi Scheme is a Problem and Threat to All of Us (Even Those Who Don't Invest in or Use Slop at All)
This problem is systemic, not contained
"Blind Justice" Examines the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Turning a Blind Eye to Abuse by British Solicitors
We have some jaw-dropping examples of how the SRA does not do actual regulation - to the point where its staff does not actual work and does not look into any evidence at all!
7 Days From Now the FSF's Founder Gives a Talk in Bern, the FSF Has Just Advertised This
Meanwhile the FSF (or GNU) processes and uploads many recent talks by RMS
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Down But Not Out – Costa's Comeback
he managed to secure a top-level EU position in June 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 04, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, June 04, 2026
Links 04/06/2026: Self-hosting Remotely and GemText Emphasis
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2026: Ukraine’s Daily Moment of Silence and Uber Lays off 23% of HR
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 98 Out of 200: Microsoft Threatening Real Security Researcher With Criminal Investigation for Talking About Microsoft's Bug Doors/Back Doors
The crime should be the back doors (deliberate attack on every user's data protection), not talking about those back doors
Microsoft Would Get Away Even With Pedophilia
"Microsoft should never be above the law"
Journalists Should be Ashamed for Parroting False Claims From IBM Management About "Quantum Computing", Say IBM Insiders Who Work on "Quantum Computing"
IBM is a buzzwords vendor. International Buzzwords Machines.
Free Software is Nourishment to Software Users, Unlike Proprietary Software
Quit treating "mere users" of software "like animals"
The "Peanut Gallery" of GAFAM Has Infiltrated Free Software Projects or Disrupts Free Software Communities
They contribute nearly nothing and do substantial damage; they're freeloaders who attack the most productive members of projects
Coding is Not a Quantity Game (It Never Was!)
"less is more"
Exposing Corruption Using a Highly Resilient Platform
Growing levels of trust, based on our track record, help us attract whistleblowers
Mass Layoffs Expected at Microsoft in July 2026
They're preparing more "lists" of people
Reflection on EPO Leadership That Harbours Cocaine, IBM Leadership That Pumps-and-Dumps the Shares, and More
ManCity replaced Manuel Pellegrini with a more famous manager it didn't envision winning 20 titles in 10 years (it could only hope) [...] Team-building is something that "Pep" seemed to be good at, as was Jürgen Klopp
Pump and Dump by IBM Insider Traders: Nickle LaMoreaux, Gary Cohn, James Kavanaugh, Arvind Krishna, Robert Thomas, and Others
the shares are already collapsing
FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) Has Weakened If Not Ruined What's Left of Big Media
Many things that have existed for decades are now being rebranded as "AI"
SLAPP Censorship - Part 97 Out of 200: Garrett in Hiding (From the Simple Observable Fact He's Closely Connected to the Microsofter Who Strangles Women, Tells Women to Kill Themselves, and Worse)
They use one another; they are coordinating this via the SLAPP industry in another continent
Links 04/06/2026: Microsoft Threatening Security Researcher for Naming Back Doors in BitLocker, "Demand is Booming for" Old Tech
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2026: "Word Vomit", Slop", and Moving to Gopher/Gemini
Links for the day
Rust Outsources its Financing (or Financial Control) to Microsoft
How long before the third "E"?
"Format Sovereignty" Can Only be Accomplished With LaTeX or OpenDocument Format (ODF) or Vendor-Neutral Standards for Editable Documents
Microsoft is, in effect, above the law
IBM's Shares Fell Nearly 13% in One Day (Including After Hours)
its main product is false promises
The Cyber Show on the Importance of Software Freedom and Why GNU/Linux Could Not be Stopped
an excellent article
Drew DeVault Can Still Redeem His Reputation. Revisiting His Attacks (and Attack Site) on Richard Stallman Might be a Good Start.
DeVault has openly apologised (this past spring)
The Register MS is Publishing Paid SPAM; Some of It is Designed to Prop Up the "AI" Pyramid Scheme
The Register MS participates in scams
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: "Operation Influencer"
Costa's political career was far from finished
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 03, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 03, 2026