Here's a smart thermostat that can basically do it all—change the temperature, call your friends, play music, control other smart devices, and adapt to your routine. Ecobee's SmartThermostat can also do smart thermostats things like adjust the temperature from your phone, use room sensors to manage hot and cold spots, and save energy with smart algorithms. It has Amazon Alexa built in, a way to control it with a flick of your Apple Watch clad wrist, and occupancy sensors so it knows which rooms are in use and which aren't. Is it possible for a thermostat to be too smart? If so, you can get the cheaper Ecobee3 Lite and make calls from, you know, your phone. It was announced in November, 2021 that a new company, Generac, has plans to buy Ecobee. Stay tuned for what that means for your privacy.
Wat kan er gebeuren als er iets misgaat?
Hey look, a smart home tech maker that seems to really, truly value their users’ privacy. It’s so nice to see. The first point in their privacy policy is what we wish all companies would say and do: “Your Personal Information and the data created by your ecobee Devices belong to you. You have the right to have a copy your (sic) Personal Information and Device Data at any time, and to be forgotten if you so choose.” Good work ecobee!
These smart thermostats know which room you're in and if you ask Alexa a bunch of questions. There's nothing terrible about either of those things, just be aware that your thermostat could potentially know a lot about you. Any voice requests you make of Alexa through your smart thermostat (what a weird statement) will let Amazon know more about you, of course. But hey, Amazon probably knows way too much about you already.
Ecobee reportedly also stood up to Amazon when they demanded they share more user data with them. From The Verge, “...the online retail giant asked Ecobee to share data from its Alexa-enabled smart thermostats, even when the customer wasn’t actively using the voice assistant. Ecobee reportedly refused to have its devices constantly report back to Amazon about the state of the user’s home, including data on which doors were locked or unlocked and the set temperature. The reasoning being that enabling its devices to report this data to Amazon would be a violation of its customer’s trust.” Good ecobee, bad Amazon.
Ecobee does ask users if they would like to donate their anonymized data from their smart thermostat to share with energy scientists to help “design more efficient and sustainable homes.” That seems good on many fronts. Ecobee asks users to donate their data with an opt-in option to help scientists help save the planet. Again, good work ecobee!
Tips om uzelf te beschermen
- If you connect to Alexa, delete your historical voice recordings from time to time, by saying “delete what I just said."
Kan het me bespioneren?
Camera
Apparaat: Nee
App: Nee
Microfoon
Apparaat: Ja
App: Nee
Volgt locatie
Apparaat: Nee
App: Ja
Wat is er nodig om u aan te melden?
E-mailadres
Ja
Telefoonnummer
Nee
Account van derden
Nee
Welke gegevens verzamelt het bedrijf?
Persoonlijke
Name, email, phone number, address
Lichaamsgerelateerd
Voice recordings (collected by Amazon)
Sociale
Hoe gebruikt het bedrijf deze gegevens?
Hoe kunt u uw gegevens beheren?
Hoe staat het bedrijf bekend als het gaat om het beschermen van gebruikersgegevens?
No known incidents in the last 3 years.
Kan dit product offline worden gebruikt?
Gebruikersvriendelijke privacy-informatie?
Koppelingen naar privacy-informatie
Voldoet dit product aan onze minimale beveiligingsnormen?
Versleuteling
All network traffic is encrypted.
Sterk wachtwoord
A password is required for the web portal and mobile app.
Beveiligingsupdates
Beheert kwetsbaarheden
Ecobee runs a bug bounty program, which means that anyone who finds a security issue and discloses it responsibly may get paid.
Privacybeleid
Dieper duiken
-
Donate your dataEcobee
-
Amazon tried to coerce Ecobee into collecting private user data, the WSJ reportsThe Verge
-
Ecobee’s smart thermostat now supports Siri voice controlEngadget
-
The Best Smart ThermostatNew York Times
-
Generator company Generac announces plans to buy EcobeeCNET
Opmerkingen
Hebt u een opmerking? Laat het ons weten.