Independent Research

Privacy Smart Home

Privacy-focused smart home comparisons, buying guides, and local-first implementation playbooks.

Technical buying guides and product comparisons for privacy-minded users who want local control, data ownership, and a cloud-optional smart home.

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Head-to-head infographic comparing UniFi Protect and Frigate local NVR privacy stacks in 2026, showing hardware lock-in versus open-source flexibility, WAN egress patterns, data ownership paths, and Home Assistant integration for privacy-conscious smart home surveillance deployments.
Smart Home Privacy

UniFi Protect vs Frigate: Local NVR Privacy Comparison

UniFi Protect vs Frigate in 2026: hardware lock-in, open-source auditability, WAN egress behavior, TCO, and which local NVR keeps footage under your control.

Jun 27, 2026
Consulting-style infographic for Matter 1.4.2 security showing three panels: Wi-Fi-only USD commissioning without Bluetooth, Access Restriction Lists on Network Infrastructure Manager routers limiting controller privileges, and VLAN segmentation as the complementary privacy layer for local-first smart homes.
Smart Home Privacy

Matter 1.4.2 Security: Wi-Fi Commissioning and Access Lists

Matter 1.4.2 adds Access Restriction Lists, Wi-Fi-only commissioning, VID verification, and CRLs. How August 2025 security primitives fit segmented IoT VLANs.

Jun 26, 2026
Packet-capture isolation audit diagram for UniFi Protect offline mode showing OPNsense SPAN mirror, UNVR Pro on a camera VLAN with WAN deny rules, tcpdump egress log arrows to blocked cloud domains, and local RTSP paths staying on-LAN.
Smart Home Privacy

UniFi Protect Offline Isolation Audit: Is It Truly Local?

Packet-capture audit of UniFi Protect offline mode: 72-hour WAN deny on UNVR Pro, egress domains logged, and whether video stays local when internet is cut.

Jun 25, 2026
Benchmark comparison chart for Hailo-8 versus Google Coral TPU running Frigate object detection on Proxmox N100 mini-PC with PCIe passthrough, showing inference latency in milliseconds, watt-level power draw, and setup complexity scores for local privacy-focused NVR deployments in 2026.
Comparisons

Hailo-8 vs Google Coral TPU: 2026 Frigate Benchmarks

Real-world inference times, power consumption, and Proxmox PCIe passthrough setup comparing Hailo-8/8L M.2 accelerators with Google Coral TPUs on N100 Frigate builds.

Jun 24, 2026
Firewall WAN-block test diagram comparing UniFi Protect, Frigate, and Blue Iris NVR stacks on an isolated LAN with OPNsense default-deny egress rules, showing which features keep working offline versus which break without internet.
Smart Home Privacy

UniFi Protect vs Frigate vs Blue Iris Offline

WAN-blocked firewall test: what breaks on UniFi Protect, Frigate, and Blue Iris when outbound internet is denied—recording, AI, apps, updates, and HA.

Jun 23, 2026
OPNsense firewall diagram blocking hardcoded DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS from smart TVs on a dedicated VLAN: NAT redirect on port 53 to AdGuard Home, deny rules to Google and Cloudflare DoH bootstrap IPs on ports 443 and 853, with local resolver path for privacy-focused smart home DNS filtering in 2026.
How-To

Block Hardcoded DoH and DoT on OPNsense

Block DoH and DoT on OPNsense for smart TVs: intercept port 853, deny hardcoded DNS-over-HTTPS bootstrap IPs on 443, NAT-redirect port 53, and verify in AdGuard.

Jun 22, 2026