Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing

#11

Post by atomicnumber3 » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 4:57 PM UTC

I just disabled Sidewalk on mine a few days ago. This feels like it could be part of the plot of one of RMS's short stories a-la Right to Read. Jeez. What a joke. Not a ha-ha joke, you know what I mean.

That said, part of me (a very small part, mind you. Infinitesimal even.) wonders if in some weird way this will be good for the internet? Suddenly, thanks to Amazon, an IP address is no longer a person and you can point to Sidewalk as a concrete example that isn't just owner negligence.

Mind you that's a very thin silver lining for such an absurdly large can of worms, but I digress.

Re: Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing

#12

Post by dlhavema » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 4:58 PM UTC

josefresco wrote: post #5

This page on Tom's Guide has good background, a list of devices and instructions on how to opt out. https://www.tomsguide.com/reference/what-is-amazon-sidewalk Amazon App> More > Settings > Account Settings > Amazon Sidewalk > Disable

Looks like I don't have the update yet. I don't see this menu option.

Re: Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing

#13

Post by snegu » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 5:00 PM UTC

I'm curious - is it an altruistic act to leave this functionality enabled? I'm all for making wifi access easier for people.

Re: Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing

#14

Post by vincent-toups » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 5:02 PM UTC

I'd rather go without internet than have one of these damned smart devices in my house. I can't believe how popular they are.

Re: Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing

#15

Post by hellisothers » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 5:02 PM UTC

I’ve seen a couple other articles like this that that to “both sides” this by claiming Apple does it with AirTags. Seems pretty disingenuous, feels like comparing faxing documents to the internet…

Re: Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing

#16

Post by dv_dt » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 5:02 PM UTC

This kind of privacy touching feature should be required to be opt in.

Re: Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing

#17

Post by atkailash » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

toddh wrote: post #4

This option does not exist on my alexa app. So...

Somewhat confusingly (intentionally I’m sure) it’s not a device setting but an Account Setting in the app

Re: Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing

#18

Post by kokanator » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

Here is the white paper from Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

Re: Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing

#19

Post by atkailash » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

atomicnumber3 wrote: post #11

I just disabled Sidewalk on mine a few days ago. This feels like it could be part of the plot of one of RMS's short stories a-la Right to Read. Jeez. What a joke. Not a ha-ha joke, you know what I mean. That said, part of me (a very small part, mind you. Infinitesimal even.) wonders if in some weird way this will be good for the internet? Suddenly, thanks to Amazon, an IP address is no longer a person and you can poi…

Mesh networks would be great. But should be opt in

Re: Amazon US customers given one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing

#20

Post by rudyfink » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

shiado wrote: post #7

What will happen is some high profile company that has a few Amazon devices on their network will have these devices exploited to gain network access and get hit with some ransomware/data theft/etc... and then there will be a big legal battle between Amazon and the hacked company and this whole idea will be shut down and consumers will get a $10 class action settlement for each device.

Maybe not? Most consumer arbitration agreements these days ban asserting class claims. This has been on the rise since 2011: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Mobility_LLC_v._Concepc....

In my opinion, this legal change is a huge sleeper story that is behind a number of changes in how customers are getting treated. Since customers can no longer economically avail themselves of the courts to protect themselves en-masse, certain companies find it in their interest to exploit that asymmetry for profit.

In other words, a company could always impose a harm on all of its customers for its profit. But, now, if that that company imposes a class ban through arbitration, those customers cannot, collectively, seek recourse for that harm.