Homeowner baffled after washing machine uses 3.6GB of internet data a day (2024)

Suspected cause of the 3.6 GB/day traffic

• Many assume the washer was hacked and used in a botnet or as a residential proxy.
• Others suggest a broken firmware update / retry loop, repeatedly failing and re-sending.
• A few joke about it having “become conscious” or streaming video, but the core concern is unexplained outbound data.

IoT security and privacy worries

• Commenters highlight that IoT devices with mics (washers, dryers, lightstrips, bulbs) sit inside private spaces and often remain discoverable over Bluetooth or Wi‑Fi.
• Past botnets like Mirai and anecdotes of hacked fridges sending spam reinforce that appliance compromise is not theoretical.
• Several note that people still underestimate how much IoT contributes to DDoS and proxy networks.

Containment strategies and “offline” design

• Some users keep appliances completely offline or deliberately buy non‑smart models.
• Others isolate Wi‑Fi devices on dedicated VLANs with no internet, or block outbound traffic via firewall rules.
• Zigbee (and possibly Matter) are preferred by some because devices can function locally without cloud access.
• Workarounds like deauth attacks, honeypot APs, Faraday shielding, or physically removing network modules are discussed, including similar tactics for car modems.

Debate over “tech-savvy” and norms

• Several argue that connecting a washer to Wi‑Fi is inherently unwise; others respond that noticing and quantifying abnormal traffic is relatively tech-savvy compared to the general public.
• There’s recognition that many professionals in tech happily use cloud‑tied “smart” appliances and apps.

User experience: buttons, dials, and accessibility

• Strong nostalgia for mechanical knobs and real buttons; widespread dislike of capacitive touch controls, encoder wheels, and app-only features.
• Some report unsafe or unusable designs (e.g., cooktops that can’t be turned off when wet, ovens that only expose full functionality via a bad phone app).
• Accessibility problems are raised: capacitive panels are hard for visually impaired users; workarounds like adding tactile markers are shared.

Business incentives and consumer responsibility

• Long subthread blames profit-growth incentives: data harvesting, subscriptions, planned obsolescence, and “smart” lock‑in.
• Others argue consumers enable this by buying shiny, app-driven models instead of simpler appliances, despite existing low-tech options.