this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2025
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Manufacturer issues remote kill command to disable smart vacuum after engineer blocks it from collecting data — user revives it with custom hardware and Python scripts to run offline (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 2 days ago by spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world
127 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

An engineer got curious about how his iLife A11 smart vacuum worked and monitored the network traffic coming from the device. That’s when he noticed it was constantly sending logs and telemetry data to the manufacturer — something he hadn't consented to. The user, Harishankar, decided to block the telemetry servers' IP addresses on his network, while keeping the firmware and OTA servers open. While his smart gadget worked for a while, it just refused to turn on soon after. After a lengthy investigation, he discovered that a remote kill command had been issued to his device.

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[–] brsrklf@jlai.lu 31 points 2 days ago (5 children)

There's something not working in this article.

They say it "makes sense" for the device to basically send the plan of your home to some online server, because the vacuum is not powerful enough to process this data on its own. This is already a bit horrifying to me, but okay.

And then when that guy blocked it out, the vacuum "worked for a while" before something sent the kill command through an update.

How come is it still working at all if navigation requires that server?

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

They do process mapping locally, there's no reason for a remote connection other than remote control outside your LAN and data collection.

My vacuum running Valetudo works fine with no internet connection, mapping and all.

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