Garadget
In the first case, it all started out so innocently. A user, by the handle, rdmart7, purchased a device called Garadget which allows users to open/close their garage door from their smartphone. He soon found it didn’t work and left an angry review on Amazon.
He quickly received a reply from the creator of Garadget, Denis Grisak, who, unimpressed by rdmart7’s review, blocked his unit from accessing the servers. This meant of course that the device was rendered useless.
There was a bit of back and forth before Garadget eventually restored access. The creator, Grisak was contrite after, admitting that he might have overreacted to the review.
The second story is one you might’ve seen – the case of Burger King trying to be clever and attracting backlash from Google and Wikipedia in the process.
The new Burger King advert was designed to trigger Google Assistant on tablets and mobiles into reading out marketing blurb added to Wikipedia by the chain restaurant. Google attempted to shut this down, but Burger King kept coming back with new, slightly different versions of the ad. Savvy users then got in on the act, changing the marketing material added to Wikipedia to other more ‘colourful’ versions.Wikipedia have since demanded an apology from the fast food chain for violating their policy on marketing material.
Both of these cases were attempts by companies to use IoT features on products, whether their own or someone else’s, for their own gain. Whilst Garadget’s attempt affected just the one person (and many had argued that he deserved it!), Burger King’s efforts had a significantly bigger impact – and backlash to go along with it.
Neither were marketing wins and it continues the debate on IoT and the idea that it can be so easily controlled by someone other than the intended user. The discussion so far has been centred on malicious cyber hackers, but as these stories show, it could be a disgruntled developer or shrewd advertising company.
What do you think of Burger King and Garadget’s IoT ‘hacks’? Was Garadget in the right? Was Burger King just the first clever company to use IoT for its own gains and this is just the start? Let me know what you think in the comments section.
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