Here's a terrifying story out of Texas related to the grid stress the state has been experiencing during recent heat waves. It seems that many grid customers unknowingly signed up for a program that allows the energy company to remotely change the temperature of their smart thermostats without their knowledge in an attempt to lessen the load on the grid during peak demand. Talk about a creepy amount of control from a third party that highlights how poorly designed some modern day systems have been designed.

Right now, this program is being used on people who enrolled in hopes of winning $5,000 off their energy bills (#serflife). However, it isn't hard to see this becoming a mandatory program for all if individuals don't stay vigilant, avoid these insecure "convenience" technologies in favor of more secure, less convenient tech that respects privacy and data security. Whether it be the Nest thermometer, the camera system you can put around your house, or similar surveillance systems many across the US are becoming increasingly comfortable with letting these easily manipulated spying devices into their personal space. This is a trend that individuals should actively be attempting to reverse. This means buying thermostats and surveillance systems that don't connect to the Internet of shit.

This is why I am bullish on the hardware trend that Bitcoin has ignited. Hardware that focuses on data security, privacy, and as little attack vectors as possible. If Bitcoiners want to be sure their sats are safe and secure they must work to build hardware the correct way. And many are doing that actively right now. One project in particular building out a home software server suite that includes Bitcoin in its stack is Start9. I spoke with their CEO on the podcast last year and they have plans to add a sovereign surveillance suite to their stack eventually, which is incredible. We won't have to depend on the Amazons, Googles, Facebooks, and other tech giants of the world to provide us with insecure "security" systems that share data with authorities and can be controlled remotely by a third party.

The time to build out the sovereign stack is now.

Final thought...

God I love my son's laugh.