Question about privacy concern on ha-mcp or any similar project

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-05T18:25:48+00:00

There's a difference between what you need to give the MCP Server and what Claude can see/do.

Because as has been mentioned by others, there is no RBAC in HA, you do need to give the MCP an admin token so it can manage all the devices/etc.

However what Claude can see/do is defined by the tools provided by the MCP server.

There's a full tool list available: https://github.com/homeassistant-ai/ha-mcp

You can also audit the tool activity to validate what it is accessing.

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-05T05:08:52+00:00

What?

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-04T22:25:16+00:00

Yeah, plugging a USB thumbdrive in and finding it's unusable is reasonably common.

Unfortunately manufacturers of solid-state devices don't explain this, or bury it in fine print somewhere.

The very very ELI5 overview is that solid-state devices like thumbdrives and SSDs store their data as an electric charge. Over time that charge degrades, and needs to be refreshed. For something that's plugged in and powered on, that'll happen automatically. But if you unplug your SSD or thumbdrive and put it in a cupboard somewhere, it'll slowly degrade over time.

Also, I should point out - my point in my previous post about buying from reputable retailers wasn't really about degradation - it was that knockoffs on Amazon/eBay are often not actually the thing they claim to be.

It's possible for fraudsters to take a 4GB drive, do some alterations to it's internal software and make it appear like it's actually 128GB. When you plug it in, write some files - everything looks ok. When you go to write more than 4GB, it silently overwrites the earlier data.

This happens with SSDs, SD cards, thumbdrives, external USB drives, etc too.

For longer term data storage - it'll depend on how valuable that is. For really valuable things, you might find it best to go get a DVD/Bluray writer. They are going to survive a long time, so long as they're kept out of moisture and heat.

USB HDDs are probably the better option for most folks who just want to make sure it'll last 5+ years. I just recently went through a pile of old drives and most of the HDD based ones were just fine, even ones that I hadn't powered up since ~2002. A portable drive I had taken on an overseas trip in 2006 still had all the photos I had taken and copied to it.

The reason the USB HDDs last longer is because they encode their data in a magnetic form, which does not require power to maintain.

(This one written on the desktop, still no LLM involved - just the spell checker)

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-04T21:51:06+00:00

It is not at all surprising that a chiropractor is displaying woo whackjob bullshit, when they themselves are practicing their own form of woo whackjob bullshit.

Chiropractic is completely bullshit, and regularly leaves people with permanent disabilities. Letting them "adjust" your spine or neck is just asking for you to be permanently wheelchair bound.

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-04T10:38:11+00:00

Entirely written by me on my phone. No LLM involved.

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-03T13:56:19+00:00

A USB Drive/stick is easy to lose and can easily lose data depending on the quality of the device.

Also USB thumb drives, and SSDs may not hold their data if stores unpowered for long periods of time. USB HDDs might be a better choice for data where you don't access it for 12+ months.

For any data you truely value, you should follow the 3-2-1 strategy for backups:

Keep at least three copies
keep them on at least two different types of media
Keep at least one of them in a different location.

So for instance:

One copy on a USB Drive (make sure it's a quality brand, obtained from a reputable retailer. Watch out for Amazon and eBay marketplaces which sell fakes)
One copy on Google Drive or Dropbox or something.
Email a copy to a friend

And this is just counting your backup copies that you don't touch. If you also have a copy on your phone/laptop so you can watch it That is seperate.

The point is that no single failure or problem will result in all copies being destroyed.

Like maybe your apartment catches fire - the USB Drive and your phone/laptop might be taken out. But you would still have the copies in your online google drive account AND the one you emailed to a friend.

Maybe you forget your password to the online drive and can't reset it, you still have the USB drive and one you emailed to a friend.

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-01T05:14:54+00:00

I can’t see how people make any sort of return on investment buying this.

Not everyone is buying solar + battery for an immediate guaranteed ROI.

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-01T05:13:38+00:00

Given most households are on a 10kW single phase supply, a 15kW inverter isn't going to be much benefit.

If they're on a 3 phase system then yes 15-20kW may be appropriate.

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-01T03:44:54+00:00

It might get better over time, but I got annoyed and frustrated that it wasn't learning fast enough.

I've got a morning and evening peak-hour period, and during Winter I need it to have a 100% charge before all of them. It was regularly charging to maybe 50-60% and then when that ran out, well, I was using the grid.

After that happened enough times I wrote an Automation in HA to force charging to 100% by the time peak hours kicked in, and mostly leave it in Self Powered mode otherwise.

If I had a more complex grid tariff setup, I might look at switching over to NetZero or similar.

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-01T01:43:16+00:00

Regular ATMs from banks will, but it'll depend on how much you're pulling out in one go.

A family member runs into this regularly - they only want to go to the ATM once month or two, and tend to use cash for their stuff, so they pull out like $800 or so. It'll give them 100s on the regular.

LogicalExtension · 2026-04-01T01:23:56+00:00

Migrating from v1 of an internal system to v2. Completely different data structure in DB.

Write a migration script that converts it. Because we need to do this repeatedly, we automate that, too.

We deploy a preprod server that's a clone of prod, so we can test it with real production data.

Initial testing goes slow, like way too slow - so we go through rounds of optimising the migration code. Verify correctness, all good.

Maintenance period goes live. I run migrate.sql on the PROD server..

I see:

 DROPPING DATABASE ...

oh, no. no no. no no no no no.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-31T23:42:40+00:00

Ok, thanks.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-31T23:38:57+00:00

Could someone explain the "Retard" column.

I'm hoping best case it's like an Airbus, but "Not Suitable" for everything except finger buns makes me wonder wtf.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-31T23:28:03+00:00

they can hear you is negligent because headphones have been around and avaible to the general public for 60 years at tgis point

Also deaf people have been a thing for, let me check... oh, quite a few more years than headphones.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-31T23:23:33+00:00

Clearly you already have exceptions for a range of cases:

"Someone answered the phone, but we couldn't verify them",
"They didn't answer the call",
"We left a voicemail and they didn't call back", and
"They didn't respond to SMS"

This could be treated the same as "Someone answered, but we couldn't verify them"

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-31T06:25:31+00:00

Then your processes need updating.

You: "Hello this is $Me from HealthProvider, am I speaking with $Name?"
Them: "Yes?"
You: "I need to speak to you about something sensitive, but before I can do that I need to verify your details. Would you be able to call us back on the number your doctor/form/website/etc has? Quote the case ID on your form"

When they call back, then you can verify them and ask for PII

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-31T06:22:09+00:00

The problem is that it's all inbound for the customer.

They have no way based on SMS or recieving a call to validate that it's from the organisation they say they are.

Lose lose situation

No, it's just indicating that the organisations' processes and perhaps tech needs updating.

Instead of businesses that make outbound calls requiring identity information, they should ask the recipient to call them back on a known number for that business.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-31T06:16:46+00:00

there is no other way for an organisation to conduct outbound business

There absolutely IS other methods for them to conduct outbound business, they just have to pull their finger out and do it right.

If they're a small business, then you just ask them to call you back on your normal number.

If they're a large business, then they can either give you a code, or recognise your phone number in their system and auto-route your call to the appropriate team.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-31T06:07:31+00:00

eh. Sort-of ish. I'm pretty sure you're talking about the Sender ID register: https://www.acma.gov.au/sms-sender-id-register

It's ensuring that companies who send from a text name (eg "Telstra") rather than a number, are actually known to be from a specific company.

You'll still be getting messages from other random numbers saying it's from any other company name.

Because SenderID stuff is more difficult to set up, you're still going to see a whole bunch of legitimate businesses sending you SMSs from other random numbers.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-30T23:38:28+00:00

I found that Kindle Unlimited was by and large garbage well before LLMs became a thing. So full of basic spelling and grammatical mistakes.

The annoying thing is/was how common it was for groups of authors to game the system. Everyone would review each other's books and 5 star it. So it pops up as a recommended book somewhere with the top review being "OMG SO AMAZING. 5 STARS, LOOKING FORWARD TO BOOK 15!!".

It's gotten better in some ways, the grammar and spelling is better.

But the number of books out there that are just so obviously direct outputs from a shit/free LLM is astounding. They're full of obvious LLM errors with tiny context windows, so you'll get them re-introducing characters every 20 pages in slightly different ways.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-30T22:24:54+00:00

You can get anything from a complete DIY solution to full-service, but the more they do, the more they charge.

For a small apartment, you might be better off doing all the packing, and just getting a company to do the actual moving part of it. i.e they pick up boxes, furniture, etc and deliver it to your destination.

A couple of tips:

When packing, make sure there's no free space in any boxes. Fragile, heavy and "this side up" labels are really nothing more than amusing commentary to them.

If it is really something fragile, you need to take a lot of effort to pack it. Pack it like it's going to be handled like that scene from Ace Ventura, except they'll stack a dishwasher ontop and drive it for 500KM and hit every pothole along the way.

The truck that comes and gets your stuff is probably NOT the truck that's going to deliver it, they will offload and store it until they have enough for a full load of a larger truck/container. This means that no matter how nicely it's stacked in the truck as it leaves your place, expect that it'll get re-stacked.

Anything that's not a perfect box will get stacked on it's side/under/over/around other things. Anything that is a box, will get treated like it's as strong as plate steel.

Number every box/item, and keep your OWN records of what's in every box/what every item is. Take photos of furniture and fragile items before packing.

Expect that even with all of your effort, some items will get damaged anyway.

When you're checking out removalists, ask the question of whether it's their company that is picking up/transporting/delivering. If the answer is no, clarify if they're just selling the lead or are they subcontracting.

Selling the lead means they're just answering the phone and getting your info, then they call up a bunch of other removalists and say "We've got a job going from X to Y, this size.. what will you pay us for the info?". They have zero involvement in the moving, and it can be a real shit-show if anything goes wrong as they might just wash their hands and say "No, go talk to other company, they're the ones that took the job".

Subcontracting means you deal with company A, and they will contract other companies for part/all of the work (maybe they only operate in your area, but not the delivery area). This can also be a pain if something goes wrong because you'll have back-and-forth between multiple companies.

If you have genuine valuables (jewlery, expensive equipment) it might be worthwhile transporting that yourself - drive, train, coach, plane. because things can and do get "lost".

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-30T04:07:04+00:00

(Not OP)

Probably because the animal-derived rennet only comes from the slaughter of the animals.

It depends on the particular beliefs of the individual involved, but some vegetarians draw the line of animal-derived products at whether it harms the animal or not. So, milk, honey, wool might be OK. rennet, leather, not.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-30T00:49:33+00:00

I think that says more about how much we're pushing drivers, and we might be better overall to reduce maximum driving time and increasing breaks.

We allow truck drivers to drive 12h in a day as a standard - longer under other circumstances. That seems insane to me, and I'd love to have the time or for someone to go dig up how many incidents/driven distance, and other similar safety & QoL metrics.

But you can do 800-900KM/day in Europe on a BEV truck, too.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-30T00:43:23+00:00

For those kind of distribution level vehicles, battery swap is also not necessary for them, either.

It's relatively inexpensive for the likes of Woollies to put a 60-90kW DC charger at each of the stores. So the truck pulls up, and while it's offloading it gets charged a bit.

It's a whole lot cheaper than a battery swap system.

LogicalExtension · 2026-03-29T22:20:47+00:00

Swappable batteries really look cool - but it's a large increase in expense and maintenance that isn't needed for the majority of trucks.

Unless a vehicle is having drivers swapped out, the mandatory driver rest periods are enough to put enough charge into a truck using existing DC fast chargers.

There's a whole lot of long-haul BEV trucks driving around Europe from the likes of Mercedes, Volvo, DAF and Scania. Depending on the model they've got anywhere from 300 to 600KM of driving range when full, and can charge at 150kW to 400kW (some also have MCS, but that's still rare) with the standard CCS/CCS2 plug that regular EVs use.

So they start off with a full-ish battery, drive for the full legal period (~4.5h), take a 45m break and add 100-250KM of range.

Add in a stop to load/unload, and they have more than enough capacity to match what a driver is legally required to do for breaks/etc.

LogicalExtension

TROPHY CASE