Suddenly everything was over: from the smart screens of Google and Amazon the only message signaled the absence of a connection; the “streamer” of the Lumin that allows you to listen to music chosen on Spotify or Tidal on the stereo system no longer worked; on the smart TV it was impossible to reach services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney +; the security cameras were inactive, as were the door bell and the thermostat, which could only be adjusted by hand. We are not talking about desktop PCs and laptops, tablets, consoles where now all video games or almost require online authentication. The connected house, the carrier fell due to a transition from one operator to another that should have been painless, has turned into a half catastrophe that lasted over ten days. With a few exceptions: the vacuum cleaner that communicates some statistics via app and, for the same reason, the washing machine resisted. Some smart speakers also got away with it, because they have the ability to interact with the smartphone via bluetooth. The rest has passed into silence, uselessness.
Home gadgets, the objects that cannot be missing in a smart home
The connection to the Web will also be a right, as the UN has argued since 2011, but we should include its stability and stop allowing operators to flaunt theoretical speeds that are never reached in practice, instead forcing them to declare only the threshold. minimum they guarantee. In a universe of connected objects, this is no longer an acceptable attitude.
The ten-day blackout incident only had a worse precedent. About two years ago, we involved a Bolognese company specializing in computer security, Yoroi, in an experiment.
We asked her to attack our house to see how vulnerable it was. Result: it was far beyond any possible expectation. Not only did he manage to get hold of the cameras and the thermostat, but he came to be able to manage the television remotely. Let’s be clear: most of these devices are useful, comfortable, efficient. And once inside the house it is difficult to go back and do without it. But we are still in a situation of transition: the web is everywhere and yet, in almost all the objects that surround us, there are still many, too many fragilities considering the weight they have in our lives and in our homes.
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