this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2023
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This is the reason my house has:
Fwiw, I think using a self hosted home automation setup (shout out to home assistant) paired with smart devices that don't use internet (e.g. zigbee, zwave, or matter once it comes out) can allow you to have a smart home without these kinds of fears.
That said, I would definitely agree to using mechanical locks. Although a monitored smart security system is probably still a good idea - you're letting a company virtually enter your house, but you can't rely on a self hosted solution to notify you when your power goes out, for example.
This, I have plenty of smart home stuff all run locally, and every external call is something I can control and disable. Having a smart home isn't inherently the problem; outsourcing all the computation to cloud servers run by unaccountable corporations is the problem
My experience from watching lockpicking lawyer is that locks are just social niceties that tell others 'please don't go here' and have no real ability to stop anyone who doesn't care. Other than the owner who gets locked out by forgetting their own key of course.
You definitely still want locks because most people have no idea how to pick a lock and a lot of crime is crimes of opportunity. But I don't think there's that much of a difference in most locks. A slightly better lock might dissuade a thief who learned how to pick cheap masterlocks, but someone who truly wants to get in doesn't even need to pick a lock. I'd hazard a guess that break-ins happen far more often by breaking the window than picking locks.
When I installed digital locks my partner was paranoid about them until I reminded her that we live in a house with a lot of windows. If someone is going to the lengths to crack my lock rather than smashing my windows, we have other problems.
@beaumains @greenskye the problem is, with a broken window it's pretty obvious that something happened. And for example you can point that out to insurance people. With a digital lock, that has been opened and then locked again without your knowledge, not so much.
Lol this. Everyone's so paranoid with locks, this only makes sense if you live in a concrete bunker. Also, if they want to get in, they will. Self housing and using devices that are patched and communicate locally is the way. The only issue with this is you have to be on top of your system and ensure it's patched and up to date, but wouldn't you oil your manual lock occasionally?
edit: added clarification
My threat model doesn't need to include people hacking my locks. The average junkie breaking into my house to steal shit isnt doing it with the blessing of some hacking group. There are no cat-burgulars coming for my collection of antique dildos. I can definitely understand not e-locks for a museum or a bank, but they use integrated security systems that are far out of reach of home users. Another point is that the tumblers in most home door locks are trivial to pick, more trivial than hacking an e-lock.
Unless I’m mistaken, don’t HomeKit compatible devices need to be local-first too? I remember reading that if I switch my Ecobee thermostat to HomeKit (via HomeAssistant’s bridge), it will use local control instead. It’s on my todo list but I just haven’t done it yet.
I think this thread about Ecobee and HomeKit was where I started…