The Privacy War Comes Home (Transmission #355)
With AI infiltrating every corner of life, privacy is quickly becoming a new vector of competition. The question isn't whether privacy in the home matters. It's who figures out how to deliver it without breaking the convenience consumers have come to expect.
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With AI infiltrating every corner of life, ❇️privacy is quickly becoming a new vector of competition❇️.
Apple has long made privacy a core pillar of its strategy. So have Brave in the browser arena, and Proton Mail in email.
Even the real estate industry has leveraged privacy as a competitive advantage. Six years ago, ❇️Alain Pinel was already playing the big brother card❇️, positioning itself against companies monetizing consumer data (prior to its ❇️Compass acquisition❇️). It felt early then. Today, with AI listening to more of our lives than ever before, the idea feels increasingly prescient.
Eventually, home privacy concerns will be as mainstream as password managers and two-factor authentication are today.
Curious? Additional examples.
Proptech's Leader has Been Crashing Our Couch the Whole Time // Stock in Down Payments // Banking Real Estate in the Clouds
The question isn't whether privacy matters. It's who figures out how to deliver it without breaking the convenience consumers have come to expect.
We’re seeing that play out.
A VECTOR OF COMPETITION
Founded by one of the SmartRent founders and backed by Fifth Wall, One Raven “is a privacy-driven complete smart home system, transforming the way homeowners control and protect their homes.” The system is powered by a One Raven home server inside the home, with data stored locally and “encrypted access available for remote connectivity.”
Hubitat stores device data and processes home automations locally. mash is another smart home company (that I find compelling) connecting disparate devices that could make privacy part of its pitch to homeowners. Josh already has.
Anti-listening devices like Spectre 1—integrated in the home—won’t be the end product. They’ll become a critical feature inside larger home systems where homeowner privacy is the central pitch. An anti-surveillance device that blocks Alexa, Siri, and other devices from listening, unless directly addressed, would sell like hotcakes.
The real question is what happens when privacy competes with convenience.