Episode 202: What happens when your smart home gets a subpoena

This week’s news was somewhat grim for the smart home with Lowe’s shutting down its Iris smart home hub program and a number of acquisitions in the space. Those include LIFX, Neeo, and WigWag. We are pumped about the rise in mainstream attention for consent around data use and privacy. Unfortunately, we also have a bunch of stories about leaking data, poor security practices and a slight bright point with a UK investment in device security. We end with some Google Assistant updates that are pretty compelling. Then we hit our IoT Podcast Hotline to answer a question about the best light switch to replace a Plum light switch, which has stopped working.

LIFX was purchased by an Australian company for $51 million.

Our guest this week is Denise Howell, a lawyer in California who shared some thoughts about how smart devices will change the legal landscape. We spent some time talking about what might happen in criminal and civil lawsuits when police or even other lawyers want access to device data. What rights do you have? We also talk about GDPR and the likelihood of new data protection laws getting passed at a federal level. She’s not as optimistic as I am. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Denise Howell, attorney
Sponsors: Urban-X and Western Digital

• Lowe’s does a great job with a bad situation
• The fallout in smart home devices keeps coming
• Basic security starts with encryption
• Tort law is the best we have for poor IoT products
• It’s not jsut the police you have to worry about when it comes to device data

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