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Amazon customers have one week to opt out of a plan that would turn every Echo speaker and Ring security camera in the US into a shared wireless network, as part of the company’s plan to fix connection problems for its smart home devices.
The proposal, called Amazon Sidewalk, involves the company’s devices being used as a springboard to build city-wide “mesh networks” that help simplify the process of setting up new devices, keep them online even if they’re out of range of home wifi, and extend the range of tracking devices such as those made by Tile.
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The feature works by creating a low-bandwidth network using smart home devices such as Amazon Echoes and Ring security cameras. At its simplest, it means that a new Echo can set itself up using a neighbour’s wifi, or a security camera can continue to send motion alerts even if its connection to the internet is disrupted, by piggybacking on the connection of another camera across the street. Other devices that don’t need a high-bandwidth connection, such as smart lights, pet locators or smart locks, can use Sidewalk all the time.
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Users can disable Sidewalk in the settings section of the Alexa or Ring apps, but have until 8 June to do so. After that, if they have taken no action, the network will be turned on and their devices will become “Sidewalk Bridges”.
Privacy obviously not high on the priority list for Amazon.
Amazon Sidewalk is a new long-term effort to greatly extend the working range of low-bandwidth, low-power, smart lights, sensors, and other low-cost devices customers install at the edge of their home network. Using the 900 MHz spectrum, we are developing a new protocol we project can increase the connection range of these devices by more than one half mile/one kilometer. With Amazon Sidewalk, customers will be able to place smart devices anywhere on their property and know they’ll work great, even in dead spots where Wi-Fi and Bluetooth don’t reach.
Using the 900 MHz spectrum to help devices communicate isn’t new. In fact, it’s been around for decades, providing reliable, secure connections for long-range devices like the radios used by emergency services and the digital pagers carried by doctors on-call. It’s by combining this tested communications network with an innovative new protocol developed by Amazon that we arrived at Sidewalk; a new way for the next generation of low-cost, low-bandwidth sensors and smart devices to work together to create a secure network of long-distance connections, bridging the connectivity gaps around our homes.
"Skynet becomes self-aware at 2:14am Eastern Time, August 29th."
hope you folks enjoyed the Pinnacle of Human Civilization in the mid 20th thru early 21st Centuries. I guarantee you wont recognize the place in 50 years.
First off, this is Sidewalk 1.0 and new products are known to have bugs. Wireless networks have also been compromised before, and they'll be compromised again. (Amazon has a whitepaper on Sidewalk security, but next year's Black Hat conference could blow that to smithereens.)
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Consider how much you trust the giant mega-corps with your data and act accordingly. Amazon says the delivery system of Sidewalk is exactly that—for delivery only, with Sidewalk Gateways and servers never even seeing the data involved, only the packets that prove they deserve the transport. It only authenticates and sends, it doesn't read it.
But data like this is about more than content. Amazon, like any good data-miner, will know who's walking by the house, knocking on the door, or unlocking a door if they happen to use or just have a Sidewalk device on their person. Talk about targeted advertising opportunities.
Plus, there is still plenty of hullabaloo about the privacy surrounding Amazon and its Alexa assistant. Amazon itself owns a controversial facial-recognition platform that it only stopped selling to police last year. Amazon-owned Ring has also partnered with at least 405 police agencies across the US so officials can more easily access video footage captured by the doorbell cameras.
In the Alexa app, you just go to Settings, then Account Settings, then Amazon Sidewalk and toggle to disabled.
I just checked the app and this option doesn't appear at all. Probably because I have an older device?
Quote:
What are Sidewalk Bridges, and which devices are able to become Sidewalk Bridges? Sidewalk Bridges are devices that provide connections to Amazon Sidewalk. Today, Sidewalk Bridges include many Echo devices and select Ring Floodlight and Spotlight Cams. A comprehensive list of Sidewalk devices includes: Ring Floodlight Cam (2019), Ring Spotlight Cam Wired (2019), Ring Spotlight Cam Mount (2019), Echo (3rd gen and newer), Echo Dot (3rd gen and newer), Echo Dot for Kids (3rd gen and newer), Echo Dot with Clock (3rd gen and newer), Echo Plus (all generations), Echo Show (2nd gen), Echo Show 5, 8, 10 (all generations), Echo Spot, Echo Studio, Echo Input, Echo Flex.
My local cable company (Optimum) also does something like this when they install their wireless router in your home when you get service. They create a public WiFi access point in addition to your home WiFi network. I replaced their WiFi router with my own that does not do this.
In the Alexa app, you just go to Settings, then Account Settings, then Amazon Sidewalk and toggle to disabled.
It should not be opt-out but opt-in instead. . That is an abuse of privacy by this tech company. When will our government officials who say they care so much about us start providing us with some protection against these intrusive companies?
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