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Amazon Sidewalk

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Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#61

Post by dudul »

peteretep wrote: post #5
BrentOzar wrote: post #4

"when you share your Bridge’s connection with Sidewalk, total monthly data used by Sidewalk, per account, is capped at 500MB" Given that it's US-only, where most internet plans have pretty high caps, it's hard for me to get upset about this. I would have expected my Echoes alone to use more than that during normal monthly operation, playing music, fetching news, etc.

I’d expect data caps to be some of the worst in the US. Poorer countries had their internet infrastructure put in much more recently. That said, I also suspect you can’t just look at mean (average) speed to get a feel for that.

Data caps have little to do with infrastructure as demonstrated this the past year.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#62

Post by mschuster91 »

Good god this title editorializing is atrocious. For those who don't read the articles and only go for the comments... Amazon plans to use Echo devices as some sort of local, extremely low-bandwidth (80 Kbps) gateway for IoT communication. Not some sort of "internet sharing" in a "this is a wifi hotspot" way.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#63

Post by Spare_account »

FartyMcFarter wrote: post #57

> helps devices like Amazon Echo devices, Ring Security Cams, outdoor lights, motion sensors, and Tile trackers work better at home and beyond the front door. I hope they inform their customers that filming and recording public spots or other people's houses in Europe requires advertising the presence of CCTV and adhering to data protection laws. I have a feeling that in the coming years the number of neighbours suin…

>I hope they inform their customers that filming and recording public spots or other people's houses in Europe requires advertising the presence of CCTV and adhering to data protection laws.

I live in the EU and have a camera on the front of my garage, pointing at the street and partially covering my opposite neighbour's house. I'd like to understand more about which rules I need to adhere to, I was unaware of this. Can you point me towards some resources on the subject?

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#64

Post by mrweasel »

Are the ISPs actually okay with this? Ideally Amazon would check who your ISP is and then check if the ISP will allow this type of usage, before just enabling it.

If properly protected I don't see the issue, but it really needs to be opt in. The main issue from my point of view is that companies like Amazon automatically assume that a customer is okay with this, without knowing anything about pricing, security requirement and stability of the customers internet connection.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#66

Post by hnlmorg »

dan1234 wrote: post #10
BrentOzar wrote: post #4

"when you share your Bridge’s connection with Sidewalk, total monthly data used by Sidewalk, per account, is capped at 500MB" Given that it's US-only, where most internet plans have pretty high caps, it's hard for me to get upset about this. I would have expected my Echoes alone to use more than that during normal monthly operation, playing music, fetching news, etc.

My main concern with sharing like this isn't the bandwidth usage, but what happens when someone abuses the connection (downloading/sharing child porn as an example). I don't want anything to do with it if there's even the slightest chance I'd end up on the hook for someone else's crimes.

My concern is less illegal and more about device manufacturers using this to bypass any internet settings I choose (eg to block ads and trackers).

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#67

Post by petee »

prox wrote: post #15
rubatuga wrote: post #11

Please don’t support Amazon from creating another network-effect product that creates vendor lock-in, and privacy issues. Convenience should not be the end-all goal, as the ad blatantly states, but instead interoperability and open-protocols.

Convenience is way too alluring for the general public I am afraid. But I completely agree.

I'd wager that at face value most of the public wouldn't want their neighbors sharing internet, if only for the liability risk (who wants to find out the hard way their neighbors kid was downloading kiddie porn)

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#68

Post by Tepix »

mrweasel wrote: post #64

Are the ISPs actually okay with this? Ideally Amazon would check who your ISP is and then check if the ISP will allow this type of usage, before just enabling it. If properly protected I don't see the issue, but it really needs to be opt in. The main issue from my point of view is that companies like Amazon automatically assume that a customer is okay with this, without knowing anything about pricing, security requir…

How is this different from having a wifi access point?

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#69

Post by hnlmorg »

jordz wrote: post #55

"Amazon does not charge any fees to join Amazon Sidewalk" Not to the end customer anyway. To organizations and developers building on top of the APIs... Completely against this idea though its a shame its not... "Get paid for hosting a network using the devices you purchase from us"* Lastly, it is a cost albeit negligible to the end user who installs the device (power, bandwidth, etc). *I know it wouldn't amount to a…

Honestly, the end user should be subsidised for hosting this feature. The fact that Amazon are able to spin this as "we're giving this to you for free" shows how far the tech industry has gone in tricking it's consumers into thinking that they're getting something for nothing.
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