The temperatures of these freezers need to have a centralised audit trail, to comply with foodchain regulations. While such an audit trail could be built without Internet, Internet seems like an obvious solution.

The true problem doesn't lie with Internet access, it lies with low quality software.

The reason is because the optimisation and automation means that there are no staff in the stores qualified to 'turn the knob' (and it is more complicated than that). What is the store to do, employ full-time knob-turners? They won't even pay for the uniforms of shelf packers or give them two toilet breaks on a shift.

It's useful to have a central monitoring system, so you can detect if a particular device fails so you can dispatch someone to fix it, move the stock elsewhere, etc. Of course, such systems can also be weaponised against you, as this proves.

I'm not saying I think the benefits outweigh the risks but to say there is no reason is to just be willfully ignorant.

even with remote access, they shouldn't have controls that allow for unsafe conditions.

It's more just what happens when you don't have sensible monitoring and/or incident response.

> There is no reason for them to ever have an internet connection.

You can't know this.

> There is no reason for them to ever have an internet connection.

How do you remote control the temperature without having any remote connection to them?

Have you worked in a small rural grocery store ever? You speak confidently about what they need/don't need, but you fail to account for a very basic use case, making me unsure if you actually know what you're talking about or not.