GabeWeiss_

I agree with this. I think the real solution is going to be to rewrite laws to account for digital abuses. This is still true not just domestically, but a lot of the large criminal actions don't take into account digital equivalence. They're catching up, slowly but surely, but it's definitely a slow process.

A lot of it is pretty gimmicky right now, granted, but that's not where things are going. The logical conclusion this is all heading towards is really all about coordination of device/thing across the household. Convenience is really at the heart of it, which means for a percentage of the population, it won't ever catch on, because as you say, there's nothing WRONG with a physical key for your house.

But we said the same about cars, but how much more convenient is it to just put your hand on the car door handle, and it unlocks and opens for you? How much easier is it to just get into the car and hit a button to start it because the key fob is in your pocket?

They're small improvements of quality of life, but added up, and it makes for a better experience moving through the world.

Security is a HUGE issue of course, and to a large extent we need to figure it out, but there's good progress being made. And IoT devices aren't (as another comment says) just another outdated Linux box. OTA (over the air) updates are a real thing now, and done securely are as safe as updating your desktop machine at home.

The article calls this out to an extent. The problem here, is if you unplug it, the abuser knows, and often then physical retribution, or at least abuse escalation can occur. It's a VERY difficult problem to solve IMO.

At least being on equal footing with everyone in the household so it's not seen as an avenue of control (which most domestic abuse scenarios are all about) would be a great first step.

Please please, if you have a partner installing these things in your home, have them show you:

1) How they installed it 2) Where the product's support is, and how to contact them 3) How to uninstall/remove/destroy it (also useful if the robot overlords take over the world)