Speak for yourself, I rooted my vacuum the day I bought it

We definitely don’t have any hard boundaries baked into this tech preventing big tech from (ab)using our data this way. But are there specific companies you think are doing this? I think with Meta products, it’s been rather obvious for a long time. But I’ve had a Nest doorbell camera and thermostats for years, and first iRobot and now Roborock vacuums, and they don’t really seem so suspect.

Sure you do. All of those are available in local versions without Internet.

Youjust need to care enough, be able to afford them (while my vacuum has no camera, it requires the cloud, but it was significantly cheaper than a local or hackable one), and have the ability to self host something like home assistant.

>We consumers have no protection against big tech

Stop buying it. You are not a robot that is forced to purchase a video doorbell or a robotic vacuum cleaner or a smart thermostat.

You have free will. If you do not like a commercially available product, don't buy it, don't use it. It's that simple.

At least the vacuum does not try to start a civil war for add impressions..

Obligatory Valetudo reference. Replace the robovac firmware so it doesn't do cloud.

https://valetudo.cloud/

Can't help with the rest unfortunately.

> We consumers have no protection against big tech

I like to call big tech, “Little Sister” since governments are “Big Brother”

Don't buy the shit. You don't need a smart doorbell or robot vacuum at a minimum.

Don't use it.