2026, animals, Government, home, News, Technology, Uncategorized

Dirty Little Secrets

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I was quite amused this week to read that the Federal Communication Commission is worried about our robovacs as threats to national cyber security.

Thats right. Along with certain routers and drones, the FCC has banned the importing of many robovacs unless they meet certain criteria. This means there will be fewer robovacs on the market, and, of course, prices for the government approved ones will rise.

We have a Shark robovac that we put to good use on our upstairs wood flooring. We named her Good Clean Bess, or just Bess, for short. Shark products are included in the current government ban, although already purchased or other units currently on the shelves haven’t been banned. She is parked in the dining room on her charger. Now, when I walk by her I wonder “What is she telling foreign spies about me and my home? What does she tell them about the dust and dirt she collects? Our cat ignores Bess, but what about cats who like to ride on robovacs as they travel over our floors? Do we need to worry that our cats are sharing State secrets ?

I know I am being a little over the top about this. I can understand concerns about routers and drones, but vacuums?

What would a hostile foreign government learn about you and your home from your vacuum? What would you do with a drone?

25 thoughts on “Dirty Little Secrets”

  3. We just purchased a new robot vacuum. They won’t learn anything from anything from us because all the sensors are covered with dust and dog hair….

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  4. From what I can tell, having read a little about it, the ban is less about the information-collecting capabilities of robot vacuums and other mobile household robots and more an extension of the government’s policies of tariffs and trade bans.

    You could equally ask what a hostile U. S. government learn about you and your home? What could a more local private entity with the capability to hack into the visual and audial sensors of your vacuum or any piece of wirelessly-connected equipment learn?

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  6. If we had a robovac, it would be clogged to unuseability with cat hair in about five minutes. Warning: Siberian forest cats are fur mills! Our Iris leaves clumps of hair all over the floor on a daily basis. We don’t mind, because most of our carpeting is light colored and it doesn’t show too much. We just have to empty the vacuum cleaner bag more often.

    But if you’re a neat freak and typically vacuum every few days, the hair won’t bother you too much. Or WILL IT??

    Be warned.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  7. we got the robo vac 5 years ago and ill bet it doesnt have 100 hours on it. if the feds checked theyd proclaim us dead. we could feed them lots of unamerican lefty dialogue that would crank up the miller hegseth rubio robots to perform their crowdspeak emphatically pronouncing their views to be those of all true americans and all us lefty traitors to be on the communist side of the equation.

    i wonder if america can survive having no friends for a prolonged period of time. trump can do it but he has never had friends. im not sure america in a trump suit is a good idea.

    were better than that

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  8. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    My WP looks different today. Anyone else?

    My little robo vac has been silent and not listening for a year since we got our last puppy. It tends to freak him out. However, I like it for keeping dog hair swept up out of the middle of the floor. Thus the primary secret would be that I probably do not brush the dog often enough or he would not shed so much! He seems to have matured a great deal lately, so soon I will get it back out and re-program it, then expose him to it. I do not think we have many secrets.

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      1. They must have rolled something out overnight. It made me log in this morning… have you tried changing your settings to accept third party cookies?

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  9. I don’t have a robovac and I don’t plan to get one. I’m sure Maggie would freak out. I have an old Hoover, a very old Filter Queen, and my mom’s Shark stick vacuum. If I did have a robovac, and it was spying on us, it would be confused about all the squeaking. Maggie drags all of her toys out of the toy basket, and they’re all in play most of the time. She loves her toys. I also have music playing, so I hope they like my musical choices. I don’t think they’d learn much.

    A drone? I should be more creative, but I can’t think of a single thing I would do with a drone.

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  10. I can imagine a drone could take some pretty cool aerial photos of my house and neighborhood, that might be kind of cool…
    NO, WAIT! I can drive up to Garvin Height lookout and see that view…

    I have enjoyed seeing drone photos along this stretch of the Mississippi.

    The “Leave A Reply” box looks different from before…

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  11. I’ve actually given thought to the drone question before. I’d like to deliver the egg carton to Alan using a drone. I’m not even sure if it’s possible, but it’s been in the back of my mind for a couple of years.

    I’m pretty sure that Alexa and my phone and my computer are already listening in for God only knows whom but I’m pretty sure the only thing that they’re learning is that I watch too much Hudson & Rex, too much Banana Ball and that the most common words out of my mouth these days are Freya stop or Freya no or Freya cut that out!

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    1. What does a singing telegram cost? That would be a good way to present him with the egg carton. Maybe you could compose a little egg carton song.

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