Private home automation with Home Assistant.
We know that technology has taken hold in every area of our lives. The occupation of our homes by so-called “Smart” objects is increasingly invasive, but behind technology and the promise of making our lives much more comfortable, of saving us money, of being environmentally friendly (a false statement if you think about data centers that are increasingly huge and increasingly energy-hungry) there are hidden pitfalls that should not be underestimated.
Smart objects in fact seem to be real spies inside the home, in fact every object in the house, from the vacuum cleaner to the smart fridge, from the TV to the surveillance camera in addition to using proprietary apps in the cloud necessary for the functioning of the smart object, constantly collect behavioral data that are used to profile people.
Simply give these objects access to our network and they will try to connect with others to increase the amount of information collected.
Once the information is collected, encrypted packets are sent to the manufacturers.
It therefore appears necessary to defend ourselves from this continuous haemorrhage of data towards the Internet from these devices.
In the screenshot there is proof of what I am telling you, my LG SmartTV in which I have not accepted the terms of use of the software, nor the use of AI to collect information about my preferences and I use it only as a TV monitor, seems to constantly contact the eic.service.lgtvcommon.com service approximately every 30 seconds.
All this without my consent but only because it was connected to my home network.
For the reasons mentioned above and demonstrated with the screenshot that you can also try to do at home, it is necessary to control these objects to try to block this flow of data and to work to counter the abusive control carried out by technology companies.
There are free and open source tools that can help us keep smart objects under control and ensure that we can use them without apps but with a server for home automation control, the most famous of which is definitely Home Assistant .
Home Assistant is available to be installed on either a home server (Personal Cloud) or on a Raspberry, or we can purchase a version of Raspberry with the operating system pre-installed directly from the Home Assistant website.
The versatility and ease of use even for the less experienced makes it a simple application to use but above all with a great compatibility with the major device manufacturers such as Alexa, Tado, Ikea, Philips etc. etc. You can find the complete list of integrations on the Home Assistant website at this address: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/?brands=featured .
It is also possible to create our own automations thanks to the integrated and easy-to-use editor.
Weather data, air quality index but also room temperature (with the appropriate sensors) can be integrated, dimming the room light or changing the color at a certain time creating a unique effect, allowing us to both save light and not strain our eyes.
It is possible to integrate Home Assistant with home-made streaming services like Jellyfin or Plex.
In conclusion Home assistat is a solution that will allow you not to give up on using home automation or your Privacy which is considered to be a right of all that must always be defended at all costs if you do not want to lose it.
My advice is to limit the purchase of objects such as Alexa for example, the assistants are listening 24/24 to be ready to respond to your needs so they could be used on the contrary to spy on users.
Finally, on Home Assistant it is possible to install other applications like the one I used to block the smart TV but it is not the only one, we must learn to use these apps to defend our right to privacy and not to be profiled and controlled.
To learn more about Home Assistant, you can visit their website at the following address: https://www.home-assistant.io/ .
