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Comment by teddyh | Hacker News Reader

Anyone here who has had doubts about installing a “Home Assistant” in their home, or procuring a modern “Smart” TV, or anyone who recognizes themselves in this meme: (https://imgur.com/6wbgy2L) are essentially having the same kinds of thoughts as the Amish have about technology: Who is this technology serving? Is it really to the ultimate benefit of me, or my society?

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If you want IOT things that are fully under your control, it's definitely possible. Home Assistant with Tasmota/Zwave/Zigbee devices is very powerful, all without requiring any cloud connection.

I have so many minor automations that add up over time. When I get home, my Z-Wave lock on the front door automatically unlocks. If I open the garage, the LED shop lights turn on and the door in from the garage unlocks.

I'm curious what you do with the several seconds per day those automations save you. I imagine at least some of that time is spent troubleshooting and reconfiguring it.

To me, (home) automation is not (only) about saving a total amount of time. It's about saving time at the right moment. When I have lots of free time, I will happily spend it refining my home automations. It's a fun hobby and simple programming with things that you can actually see and touch. But when I just got home from a stressful day at work and have to hurry to some other appointment, saving a few seconds here and there can actually be very valuable. As long as all your "smart" stuff can't access the internet it's great.

Regarding that picture: I wonder if a locksmith has a "no mechanical locks" policy.

Otherwise it sounds like a case of "don't get high on your own supply".

What do you mean? I tried looking up what a mechanical lock is, it's not clear to me. Would it be bad for a locksmith to sell one to you?

In this context "mechanical" means "non-electronic". Mechanical locks are desirable because they have no unknown exploits, are not reliant on third party services, don't need batteries, and cannot be attacked remotely or en-masse.

Attacking a lock remotely still requires physical access to the property in order to reap the benefits of that attack.

Given that most mechanical locks can be trivially picked, I fail to see the disadvantages of electronic locks. Yes, the failure modes of mechanical locks are better understood - they are understood to be incredibly serious, and easy to exploit. An $80 snap gun will open most locks, and requires zero skill or training to use.

Saying that you prefer a mechanical lock to an electric one because its failure modes are well-understood is like saying that you prefer ROT13 encryption to <My homebrew encryption>.

Are homebrew systems stupid? Yes. Is it likely that my homebrew system has problems? Yes. Are those problems well understood? No. Is it probably better than ROT13..? Yes, because ROT13 can be broken by a child.

Security isn't the only thing that locks provide, they also provide access, which electronic locks will always be worse at.

I say this as a person who used to own a smart lock and went back to a regular one because I was tired of getting locked out by dead batteries and malfunctioning bluetooth.

Also on one occasion someone who was not authorized (fortunately a guest), unlocked my door and entered my house with the electronic lock because I happened to be sitting near the door on the inside.

More electronics does not mean more better.

I'll agree with you on these points. The failure modes for an authorized user of an electronic lock are worse than for a mechanical lock.

Having watched the Lockpicking Lawyer's channel, I'd guess that a locksmith would prefer a well-designed mechanical lock to anything electronic.

All locks are mechanical on some level.

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