Smart, simple, sincere – Why and how we should rethink connected things in our smart homes

More and more smart connected things and services turn our homes into smart environments. They promise comfort, efficiency and security. These devices often integrate simple sensors, e.g. for temperature, light or humidity, etc. However, these smart but yet simple sensors can pose a sincere privacy risk. The sensor data enables sense-making of home attendance, domestic activities and even health conditions, often a fact that neither users nor developers are aware of or do not know how to address. Nevertheless, not all is lost or evil. This article makes a plea for how we, the ThingsCon community, might rethink smart connected things and services in our homes. We show this in our approaches and research projects that we initiated.