Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The overall look of this camera is nice, and it is probably perfect for a certain type of person. But, I am not that person. I picked this up with plans to use it with something like ZoneMinder to keep an eye on my cabin while I was not there. I should have done more research before buying it, but a quick Google search showed that similar cameras from this manufacturer could be made to work with ZoneMinder. Not only does this camera *NOT* work with anything but the software made by Yi, there is no way to contain the video to just your local network (and still have the camera work), and the app requires a bunch of permissions that it has no business requesting! (When did it become "a thing" to require my full name, e-mail address, and other personal information just to view a camera!?) The Yi website claims that they have no way to view the video stream from your camera. But, I fail to see any reason they couldn't, if they wanted to. You have to give them a user name and password to access the stream, which means they have everything they would need to view it. I also wouldn't be surprised to find out that the camera will pass the stream out to anyone that "asks", and the user name and password are only used to match your camera with your identity. This would make it easier to have the app show which cameras you should be viewing, but would also make it easier for someone to figure out which cameras they should be looking at, if they wanted to keep an eye on you. (Or worse.) In the end, if you use this camera (or others like it), you basically have *NO* control over where the video stream goes, and who can see it. And, the permissions the app demands are outrageous for this type of an app. The company insists that it is because of the coarse permissions model of Android, but unless they list specifically why each permission is required, it is impossible to believe them. It is true that the Android permission model is *REALLY* coarse, and often confusing and misleading, but in this case there are permissions being requested that the app has no business requesting. Other companies have similar apps that use far fewer permissions, yet offer similar user interfaces and functionality. So, something doesn't smell right.