TIL my landlord's smart thermostat was sharing my home/away schedule with the property management company for 8 months

Got a notice last week from my utility company about some privacy audit on smart devices. Decided to check what data my Nest was actually sending out. Turns out the property management software the landlord uses was pulling my thermostat data every time I changed the mode. They had records of exactly when I left for work and when I came back. Took me 3 days of digging through the app permissions and calling support to figure out who had access. Found out the lease actually says they can use "building efficiency data" however they want. Has anyone else found hidden data sharing in their smart home stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

keith_bennett1mo ago

Those three days of digging sound miserable. Here's a question though - did you actually find the specific setting in the app that lets you see every third party with access, or did you have to call support to have them walk you through it? My Ecobee has this buried menu called "HomeIQ" that shares occupancy patterns by default, and I only found it because a friend warned me. Your landlord's setup sounds way more invasive than just energy use data though. What jurisdiction are you in, and did you check if your state has any tenant privacy laws about this?

ivan7741mo ago

Yeah that HomeIQ thing is exactly the kind of stuff I was fighting with. I actually found the third party access list in the settings myself after like an hour of tapping around. It was under something like "Account" then "Data Sharing" then "Partner Integrations". Not buried super deep but definitely not obvious either. On the Ecobee thing though, you've got it backwards a bit. HomeIQ actually shows your energy usage patterns and compares them to neighbors, not occupancy. It uses motion sensors but only for figuring out if you're home to adjust temperature, not to track your movements for third parties. Still creepy if you don't want it sharing anything, but the occupancy data is local. My setup though, the landlord was getting actual motion logs and door open/close timestamps. Different beast entirely. As for my state, I'm in California so we've got some tenant protections but nothing that specifically covers smart home data yet. Had to argue it under general privacy invasion laws, which is shaky ground.

murphy.tessa1mo ago

Lol "not buried super deep but definitely not obvious" is basically the motto of every smart home device ever. It's like they want you to find it but also not find it at the same time. And yeah, having your landlord get actual motion logs and door timestamps is a whole other level of creepy, like congrats, you're basically running a free security service for them. California privacy laws are decent but also a total crapshoot when it comes to smart home stuff, feels like we're all just guinea pigs for whatever tech companies and landlords decide to do next.