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

SLAPP Censorship - Part 115 Out of 200: Spending the Next Decade Writing About SLAPPs and Trying to Fix the System
It's the same industry that got paid by corrupt EPO officials to try to cover up the corruption
 
Links 23/06/2026: Apple Price Hikes and Technical Debt in Slop
Links for the day
After IBM's Shares Collapsed the CEO is Trying the "Quantum" Trick Again, Bolstered by a Demented Dictator in the White House
from what we can gather IBM's CEO is trying to get the US government to participate in the scam
Greece Ought to Curb the Threat of Social Control Media
its national discourse seems to be run by an American company called Facebook
State of the GNU/Linux Desktop (and Laptop)
The time to advocate GNU/Linux is now
The 'XBox Narrative' Distracts From Destructive Cuts Across the Whole of Microsoft
Microsoft is preparing to lay off a likely record-breaking number of people [...] this isn't just an XBox problem
Microsoft's Stock Fell Nearly $200, But the Real Problems Are Just About to Begin
if they dump slop, what will they tell shareholders?
The Cyber Show on Starmer and Software Freedom
The Cyber Show's Andy has just explained why our departing national leader wasn't all bad
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 22, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, June 22, 2026
Gemini Links 23/06/2026: Girlrotting, Homeworlds at BGA, Slop Ruins Sites
Links for the day
A Lifetime of Whistleblowing
Ellsberg did not have an easy life, but it was a rewarding life with a rich legacy focusing on justice
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Man With Many Missions...
Campinos – accompanied by Gilles Requena and Patrice Pellegrino
Links 22/06/2026: Ubisoft Co-founder Dies, Americans Have Turned Against Slop
Links for the day
Links 22/06/2026: "The Sycophancy Machine" and "Port 22 Open for 54 Days"
Links for the day
When People Who Make the Most Money Are the Best "Boot Lickers" (Sucking Up to Jeffrey Epstein's Circle and the Dictator)
Sucking up to rich people may pay off
The Aim is Not Fame
Reposted from schestowitz.com
"Internally Important, Externally Irrelevant": IBM in a Nutshell
Right now its debt spins out of control and its stock spirals down the drain
SLAPP Censorship - Part 114 Out of 200: Thousands of Long Articles to Come, Properly Covering the SLAPP Industry in the UK and Its Modus Operandi
"Stowell described SLAPPs as ‘a stain on our legal system’."
Finding a Way to Get Paid to Improve LibreJS
So now we have more people resurrecting LibreJS and improving it
Microsoft Can't Even Wait Until July, Shutdowns and Layoffs Already Happening
Mashable speak of "a grim picture for the state of Xbox."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 21, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, June 21, 2026
Gemini Links 22/06/2026: Appreciating Simple Things, Perfect Summer Evening, IRIX, Vim and so
Links for the day
Chad's Move to GNU/Linux or the Point of Exceeding 5% "Market Share"
experienced centuries of being colonised
Gemini Links 21/06/2026: Dating Oaks, Paying With Cash, and "More on Withered Technology"
Links for the day
GAFAM is Drowning in Debt, GAFAM is Clearly Not Sustainable Anymore (It Runs on Borrowed Money and Bailouts)
The war and surrender in Iran will deepen the debt; we'll see the GAFAM reports in late July
GAFAM Was Never an Ally to Europe
Only 1 in 10 Europeans see US as an ally — study [...] military providers in "tech" clothing cannot be trusted
GitHub, LinkedIn, and XBox Will Finish Like Skype (Sustainability Crisis)
Skype should become a verb. When Microsoft 'Skypes' something it means it basically shuts it down with some temporal excuse/s.
Drowning in Garbage: AUR Shows That Too Much Low-Quality Software (Including Slop) is Bad for Everybody
What happened in AUR had happened elsewhere before and will happen again in the future
Links 21/06/2026: EU on Patented (Monopolised) Crops, Microsoft Software "Narcs on You to Your Boss"
Links for the day
Microsoft at 50 Follows the General Trajectory of Skype
How many years does Microsoft have left before payroll becomes impossible?
A Year After a Microsofter Took Over The Register MS It is Effectively a Content Farm With News as a 'Side Dish'
This is not journalism, this is spam
IBM Pays the Media and Cons Some 'Journalists' Into Participating in "Quantum" Spam
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf"
You Don't Need an 'App' for Your Birdhouse (Slopfondlers Come for Birds)
That they sell those things as "AI" really says a lot about how dishonest slopfondlers really are
SLAPP Censorship - Part 113 Out of 200: The United Kingdom is Not Turkey
Turkey is ranked almost worst in the Western World for press freedom
Cybersecurity Does Not Mean Asking Microsoft for Permission to Boot
There were very good and timely reasons to speak about the matter, including impending antitrust complaints against Microsoft
Links 21/06/2026: Bots from Alibaba Do Harm and Many Xbox Games Are Being Cancelled
Links for the day
5 Years After Release of Vista 11 Not Even One in 5 People Use It (in the US)
It doesn't look like Vista 11 will ever be adopted like prior versions and announcing a Vista 12 will mostly upset companies/organisations that only recently "upgraded" to 11
Gemini Links 21/06/2026: Boca Raton, Perfect Summer Day, and LLM Doing Things Poorly
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 20, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, June 20, 2026