41–50 of 338 posts
This kind of privacy touching feature should be required to be opt in.
But not many people would bother to opt in, even if they knew about it, so ...
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-…
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27356550
[1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-faced-75-000-arbitration...
The Security Now podcast has a great episode [1] about why this isn't as scary as the headlines make it out to be. I'm actually quite disappointed at the sheer amount of fearmongering surrounding this technology here on HN of all places. For some reason I expected HN to be better than the general tech press when it came to these things. [1] https://twit.tv/shows/security-now/episodes/796
I don't particularly find it "scary", but it is monopolistic practice. Amazon are using their devices to get a lead on the competition, and in a way which consumers are unlikely to think is fair. If a company approaches me wanting to put infrastructure in my house (that only benefits them and may incur charges to me), they should normally expect to pay rent.
The Security Now podcast has a great episode [1] about why this isn't as scary as the headlines make it out to be. I'm actually quite disappointed at the sheer amount of fearmongering surrounding this technology here on HN of all places. For some reason I expected HN to be better than the general tech press when it came to these things. [1] https://twit.tv/shows/security-now/episodes/796
Most of the articles I've seen that argue that it 'isn't scary' are along the lines of.
- It's not a lot of bandwidth.
- It seems pretty secure.
For me the concern is that if either of those become not the case, intentionally or not... that's a very bad thing.
The Security Now podcast has a great episode [1] about why this isn't as scary as the headlines make it out to be. I'm actually quite disappointed at the sheer amount of fearmongering surrounding this technology here on HN of all places. For some reason I expected HN to be better than the general tech press when it came to these things. [1] https://twit.tv/shows/security-now/episodes/796
What's next? How about, hey, we'll mine bitcoin while your Echo is idle.
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.
Generally, when it comes to risks, you can do 4 things:
ARAT
(a) Accept the risk
(b) Reduce the risk
(c) Avoid the risk
(d) Transfer the risk (e.g. buy insurance)
I guess they do a mix of (a) and (b), since they have deep pockets.
I'm curious - is it an altruistic act to leave this functionality enabled? I'm all for making wifi access easier for people.
You've got an Alexa, your neighbor has a Ring. The network goes out on your neighbor's house. The Ring can then use your Alexa provided sidewalk network to send a notification to your neighbor about a package or whatever.
Someone makes Tile like product that can use Sidewalk to track its location. The sidewalk extends its range and accuracy.
Right now, it really appears to be just Ring devices that can make use of it.
This isn't a guest Wifi that arbitrary people can connect to... though as we saw with the Apple tags, people have quickly piggybacked other data on it.
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While I don't have any devices that extend the Sidewalk network, I've disabled it... just in case I do get one.
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-…