Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon Sidewalk

amazon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 687 posts

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#141

Post by Swenrekcah »

hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #100
satori99 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing stopping TV manufacturers from putting a 3/4G modem in their products. The billing is likely insignificant compared to the value of the data they can exfiltrate.

Wasn’t the entire point of 5G to reduce the cost so that this dystopian ‘internet of phone home day bypassing all your security controls’?

Our only recourse at this point are very strict laws that require all devices that do this to periodically and very explicitly state they are doing so, also providing the option to turn the 'feature' off.

The important part then is that failure to comply needs to result in personal liability for retailers, distributors and manufacturers.

That second part is the one that will probably never come true but it is the only thing that would bring any sort of meaningful change.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#142

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

Back in the early 1990's, when consumers began setting up the first "home LANs" (wired), who would have imagined that one day most, maybe even all (yikes), of the computers on those networks would be computers that are remotely controlled by third parties. I must admit I never saw this coming.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#143

Post by daniellarusso »

dividedbyzero wrote: post #6

> The maximum bandwidth of a Sidewalk Bridge to the Sidewalk server is 80Kbps, which is about 1/40th of the bandwidth used to stream a typical high definition video. Today, when you share your Bridge’s connection with Sidewalk, total monthly data used by Sidewalk, per account, is capped at 500MB, which is equivalent to streaming about 10 minutes of high definition video. Seems this is not about guest hotspots or the…

That is cool. My upload is capped at 768kbps, and with overhead it seems to be around 600kbps.

So, 13% of my upload bandwidth would be consumed.

This is a bit disingenuous on their part, equivocating uploading with downloading.

Does each Echo device consume 80kbps, or is that total?

If I had 10 Echo devices, would my internet connection no longer function and become saturated?

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#144

Post by secondcoming »

martin8412 wrote: post #52
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.

Most countries don't have the concept of caps at all except for cellular connections(for obvious reasons)

I have unlimited 5G for £25pm.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#145

Post by jiofih »

bijant wrote: post #20

This is a blatant attempt at using their market power to gain a dominant position in IoT connectivity by creating a parallel Network where Net Neutrality does not apply. If this succeeds, only Amazon approved devices will be allowed on this global Network connecting only to aws provided services thereby establishing a monopoly on non-cellular IoT connectivity. After Apples recent move in the same direction with their…

I’m not sure a parallel can be drawn to the Find My network. That one is purely designed for location tracking in an anonymous way, and does not have the ability to transfer data between devices or any other type of tracking.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#146

Post by jiofih »

rolandr wrote: post #96
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.

I generally agree, but on the other hand, from a consumer perspective IoT devices have and continue to be particularly inconvenient. After 15 or so years of IoT devices, what do we have that resembles interoperability or open protocols? Maybe Zigbee? Instead, it seems that each IoT device is a one-off effort by a very small team, and that networking is the part where you cross your fingers, close your eyes, and hold…

Why isn’t WPS common in IoT? It should solve the majority of cases for the home.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#147

Post by ulzeraj »

squarefoot wrote: post #50

So, if I buy a so called Smart-TV (not because I like it but because traditional ones are getting harder to find) but don't set up it on my home network so it can't phone home, it could scan around anyway and find other open devices more than willing to participate in my personal data exfiltration? If the Amazon project succeeds, I would expect in a few months most home devices manufacturers, to partner to implement…

IMO. There should be a market for:

- Dumb panels (not monitors). Perhaps stripped down recycled smart tvs.

- Smart tvs but with user replaceable firmware. Think OpenWRT for TVs. Maybe the same guy who does the dumb panels could sell those but with a raspberry pi in place of the logic board.

Of course a monitor solves these issues but these are normally smaller and more expensive.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#148

Post by wraptile »

hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #100
satori99 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing stopping TV manufacturers from putting a 3/4G modem in their products. The billing is likely insignificant compared to the value of the data they can exfiltrate.

Wasn’t the entire point of 5G to reduce the cost so that this dystopian ‘internet of phone home day bypassing all your security controls’?

Can't wait for when aluminium foil wrapping your TV is the new normal!

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#149

Post by jagged-chisel »

mgr86 wrote: post #140
squarefoot wrote: post #50

So, if I buy a so called Smart-TV (not because I like it but because traditional ones are getting harder to find) but don't set up it on my home network so it can't phone home, it could scan around anyway and find other open devices more than willing to participate in my personal data exfiltration? If the Amazon project succeeds, I would expect in a few months most home devices manufacturers, to partner to implement…

Edit: I was wrong. Please disregard this comment. Someone links the comment below. And the sub thread that I remember being removed appears to still be present. —— I commented the other week about enjoying my LG oled smart tv. Someone mentioned what about the evesdropping. (Which I’m aware of) and it started a small thread of people discussing that. These replies were removed about 24-48 hours later. I found it odd t…

Removed from HN? I have some doubts. It’s not impossible but I don’t think HN’s reputation would survive if they’re removing comments in service to … anyone else.

Edit: this[1] looks like what you’re talking about. Has anything been removed (by HN) from this conversation?

1 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26996739

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#150

Post by beshrkayali »

mgr86 wrote: post #140
squarefoot wrote: post #50

So, if I buy a so called Smart-TV (not because I like it but because traditional ones are getting harder to find) but don't set up it on my home network so it can't phone home, it could scan around anyway and find other open devices more than willing to participate in my personal data exfiltration? If the Amazon project succeeds, I would expect in a few months most home devices manufacturers, to partner to implement…

Edit: I was wrong. Please disregard this comment. Someone links the comment below. And the sub thread that I remember being removed appears to still be present. —— I commented the other week about enjoying my LG oled smart tv. Someone mentioned what about the evesdropping. (Which I’m aware of) and it started a small thread of people discussing that. These replies were removed about 24-48 hours later. I found it odd t…

I run pihole on my network. I monitored requests made from my tv and blocked the ones to LG one by one.
Post reply on HN