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42
Thermostats In Texas Homes Are Being Accessed Remotely And Turned Up Due To An Energy Shortage (archive.is)
posted 4 years ago by YesMovement 4 years ago by YesMovement +42 / -0
21 comments share
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▲ 30 ▼
– Soup_Navy_Admiral 30 points 4 years ago +30 / -0

“Was my daughter at the point of overheating? She’s 3 months old. They dehydrate very quickly,” English said.

Many smart thermostats can be enrolled in a program called "Smart Savers Texas."

The agreement states that in exchange for an entry into sweepstakes, electric customers allow them to control their thermostats during periods of high energy demand.

Don't worry Mr. English, I'm sure the Alexa and Google Nest you also didn't read the license agreement on would both dispatch the cops if they heard your child in distress.

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▲ 29 ▼
– Chillin_in_PNW 29 points 4 years ago +29 / -0

All that for a sweepstake entry? Holy fuck people are stupid.

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▲ 18 ▼
– TentElephant 18 points 4 years ago +18 / -0

They probably thought it was an energy saver mode. I doubt it said, "Can a stranger control the temperature sometimes?"

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▲ 4 ▼
– MGTAU 4 points 4 years ago +4 / -0

Sort of like jab lotteries

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▲ 1 ▼
– lapalapa 1 point 4 years ago +1 / -0

I had assumed it came with a tax break or power subsidy. This is stupid.

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▲ 17 ▼
– deleted 17 points 4 years ago +17 / -0
▲ 34 ▼
– FrostedCricketFlakes 34 points 4 years ago +34 / -0

Biden reduced acceptable pollution limits, so it immediately became harder to produce electricity. This was a big reason behind the damage during the freak cold shift a few months back. They contacted the Biden admin for a week long suspension and Biden responded a week after the suspension would have ended and said no. They Couldn't produce enough energy to keep things running and heated.

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▲ 33 ▼
– TentElephant 33 points 4 years ago +33 / -0

Texas is being punished for it's insolence.

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▲ 5 ▼
– deleted 5 points 4 years ago +5 / -0
▲ 4 ▼
– Kingarthas2 4 points 4 years ago +4 / -0

Looking at how political dissidents are being treated... yeah, probably.

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▲ 10 ▼
– deleted 10 points 4 years ago +10 / -0
▲ 6 ▼
– ArtemisFoul 6 points 4 years ago +6 / -0

Step 1: Cover yourself in oil

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▲ 13 ▼
– DefinitelyNotIGN 13 points 4 years ago +13 / -0

“I wouldn’t want anybody else controlling my things for me,” English said. He said he unenrolled the home's thermostat as soon as he found out. “If somebody else can manipulate this, I’m not for it,” he said.

So... I assume by "unenrolling" he meant "I took my shotgun and blasted the damn thing"? Because otherwise, you're not unenrolled, you're just lower on their list. Asking one singular party nicely to not mess with something designed to be accessed by remote points by any number of parties... isn't unenrolling from it.

Any old hacker can change it, if the functionality exists for the government to change it. If when you build a house, you make a back door because your neighborhood HOA demanded it, asking your neighbors to not use your back door without permission doesn't stop burglars from using it freely. You would think this is obvious, but IQ is averaged on 100.

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▲ 11 ▼
– randomuser88385 11 points 4 years ago +11 / -0

Texas has deregulated electricity. There is a choice in providers (resellers) and it is likely that they receive a discount on their bill for giving the provider this sort of control. A few years ago some providers were offering "free nights" where electric use between 10 pm and 6 am was not metered, but the rest of the day was much more expensive. Great if you could shift your electric usage to night time, not sure if that would still be offered with the mining craze.

Overall it takes a little research, but it isn't difficult to find a plan/reseller that works for you. Although a lot of people got suckered into deals where the first month of a 12 month contract is super cheap then they get screwed on the rest of the year.

Also, Texas had a massive heat wave and drought in 2011.

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▲ 14 ▼
– deleted 14 points 4 years ago +14 / -0
▲ 8 ▼
– GeneralBoobs 8 points 4 years ago +8 / -0

Smart Home devices are there because you're dumber than the average bear.

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▲ 6 ▼
– StoicVampirePig 6 points 4 years ago +6 / -0

Smart meters were a terrible lie.

Can you remember when they wanted everyone to have one? This is why.

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▲ 4 ▼
– deleted 4 points 4 years ago +4 / -0
▲ 2 ▼
– Assassin47 2 points 4 years ago +2 / -0

Smart meters are fine if nobody else can control them. I enjoy being able to get usage statistics sent to my email.

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▲ 6 ▼
– deleted 6 points 4 years ago +6 / -0
▲ 2 ▼
– Assassin47 2 points 4 years ago +2 / -0

During the blizzard this winter, ERCOT shut off power to random neighborhoods in rolling blackouts (claiming they weren't "rolling blackouts") while big buildings in the city right next to those neighborhoods had their power on 24/7.

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