I spent six months in a house with a Nest camera and thermostat. When I tried to install the app on my phone it wanted access to everything — absolutely everything — my camera, my call records, my email records, everything, the list of permissions didn’t even fit on a single screen.

I did not install the App and I sent them an email why they wanted all this information in order for me to set a thermostat level remotely. They never wrote me back.

My assumption is that they wanted to take that information to profit by it. IIRC, at the time their Terms of Service only said they wouldn’t sell my data directly to a third party, but of course they change those things constantly.

(Hey, what sort of “contract” is it where one party can unilaterally change the terms at any time?)

I don’t need yet another rapacious company trying to enrich themselves by picking my data pocket. Sell me a thermostat, but don’t try to steal my address book when you do.