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Comment by Rjevski | Hacker News Reader

> Those at help lines said more people were calling in the last 12 months about losing control of Wi-Fi-enabled doors, speakers, thermostats, lights and cameras

What happened to the good old thing called "physical access"? Press the reset button, unplug the thing, remove its battery or even drop it into a bucket of water. Problem solved.

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> When a victim uninstalls the devices, this can escalate a conflict, experts said. “The abuser can see it’s disabled, and that may trigger enhanced violence,” said Jennifer Becker, a lawyer at Legal Momentum, a women’s rights legal advocacy group.

If I hit someone repeatedly with their toaster, and they uninstall the toaster, so I beat them with their frying pan, the fact that they owned a toaster isn’t very relevant in the situation, the hitting is

It seems like this is a bit different, though.

The equipment can be used to spy on people and harass them when the abuser isn't even there.

You're missing the escalation aspect. The risk is that the abuser starts hitting harder or switches to a deadly weapon like a gun or knife.

But if we arrive to the point of violence, wouldn't digital devices be pretty irrelevant anyway? Like if things are starting to get out of control why is the victim even staying in proximity to the abuser and not getting help from the police or at the very least staying away at a friend's place or something?

In the few cases I've seen personally, it's because they're afraid of the abuser's reaction. They're afraid that if they go to a friend's house, the abuser will go there and break in. They're afraid that if they call the police, the abuser will find out, fool the police into thinking that everything is okay, and then escalate from there. They're afraid that even if the abuser is arrested, convicted and imprisoned, the punishment is just delayed until the release.

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