Based on the source country distribution I'd say it's more likely the standard Android residential VPN SDKs embedded in free apps.

The data and project looks cool but I don’t really see the link between the bulk of what’s presented and smart appliances conclusion?

This made me realize how many devices I buy once, set up once, and then never think about again. Smart TVs are probably one of the biggest examples of that. It would be interesting if manufacturers had to make software support periods much more obvious before people bought them.

I cannot imagine ever connecting a TV or appliance to my home network. I even worry about my printer and Roku.

What gets me is how honestly horribly written most of these scrapers are. I found one ip in my logs recently that had 50,000 attempts at the same 404, over and over every few seconds.

“Is your refrigerator running - on a botnet for AI companies?

Stainless Steel Scrapers - tonight, on Sick Sad World.”

a good reminder for me to vlan properly at home.

> If I had to guess where most of this traffic is coming from, it's from compromised smart appliances contributing traffic to proxy networks.

I find it interesting that we have a moral panic over giving people access to their own smartphones, because if the user has access they may get a virus, with negative knock-on effects on the internet...

...but there is no push to remove the same capabilities from smart appliances. They can do what they want. The user doesn't have access, which appears to be what counts. The appliance has access, so its viruses can do all the same things that have to be forbidden on phones, but that doesn't matter.

There's an interesting potential future where personal computing is illegal, unless you buy a refrigerator for the purpose.