# Hacker tried to poison Florida city's water supply

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hacker-tried-to-poison-florida-citys-water-supply/932471>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [February 8, 2021, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hacker-tried-to-poison-florida-citys-water-supply/932471 "2021-02-08T21:36:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 51

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2021, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hacker-tried-to-poison-florida-citys-water-supply/932471/51 "2021-02-12T04:05:10Z")

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> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> I’m still trying to figure out why my refrigerator or microwave needs or should be connected to the internet. WTH? &nbsp;

Relevant remarks from a thread about Internet Of Things (IOT) a while back:  
n.b.: The link in the post below is defunct. It was just a link to a picture. [Here’s a current similar pic.](https://i.etsystatic.com/10796367/r/il/3893a2/2191131376/il_794xN.2191131376_80mi.jpg)

> [@Newish buzzphrase: IOT = Internet of Things. What do I need to know about it?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newish-buzzphrase-iot-internet-of-things-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-it/805809/13):
>
> > [@Newish buzzphrase: IOT = Internet of Things. What do I need to know about it?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newish-buzzphrase-iot-internet-of-things-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-it/805809/8):
> >
> > I have several very old, definitely pre-IOT [potholders](http://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/iris-pot-holder-gray__0150595_PE309123_S4.JPG) here, that are starting to fall apart with age. It’s clearly time for me to get new potholders, as the ones I have are no way upgradeable. Should I be looking into IOT-enabled potholders? Why or why not? What advantages would they have for me?
> > 
> > (Note: I do very little cooking.)
> 
> I’ll give a serious answer to an amusing post, because I think it’s a useful way to think about how the IoT will develop.
> 
> As of today, there is no reason for an IoT potholder. Any IoT functionality is clearly unnecessary and frankly ridiculous. But that was true of many current IoT devices 15 years ago - the utility of having your refrigerator connected to the internet would have been a joke (and still is for many people). Ten years from now, it will be as standard on refrigerators as temperature control.
> 
> So brainstorming about an IoT potholder…what if it recorded the time I put a dish in the oven and automatically set a timer for me? What if it detected the temperature of the pan, calculated the cooling rate, and notified me when the cake was cool enough to turn out? These are [del]probably[/del] stupid ideas, but my point is that there will be plenty of IoT devices in the future that we aren’t imagining now.

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