TP-Link only works with a permanent internet connection

8 points by roscas 2 days ago

5 comments

View on Hacker News

TP-Link Tapo C100 model only works with a permanent connection to their servers. The second you cut internet on the camera it powers off. Why would anyone put a "security" camera in their house with a forced connection to TP-Link servers? And what does it transmit? So my question is does anyone have a TP-Link camera that works without internet? TP-Link has a ton of cameras but I don't want any that connects to the internet. Thanks.

rankiwiki a day ago

This trend worries me too. Losing basic local functionality just because the internet is down feels like a step backward.

Reply View 1 reply
  • roscas a day ago

    What worries me the most is that someone can see my granny naked and die or have permanent eye damage.

    Or worst, my mother in law... dang...

    Reply View 0 replies
journal 5 hours ago

it probably checks if the firmware needs to be updated.

Reply View 0 replies
Bender 2 days ago

I think a starting point to avoid such things even if one does not use Zoneminder would be to look at their hardware compatibility lists [1] and ask on their forums [2] to find stand-alone cameras and keep them on an isolated network using a layer-7 proxy such as HAproxy [3] to reach your management interfaces so they do not have a gateway but you can still access your devices.

The forums of all the assorted open source NVR's would also be a good place to share your findings. Zoneminder, Shinobi, Frigate, etc... I mentioned Zoneminder as they are used by a number of corporations and requiring an outbound connection to a 3rd party would be a show stopper for many of them so this topic should be a shared concern.

[1] - https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Hardware_Compatibility_List#IP_C...

[2] - https://forums.zoneminder.com/

[3] - https://www.haproxy.org/

Reply View 1 reply