61–70 of 338 posts
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.
I guess you could say they are about like those "new-fangled horseless carriages". You could argue that we sold our souls to the devil at the (now regulated) crossroads with them. But at the time (and now), they bring some real value at a cost that not all are aware of, or willing to pay.
I'm curious - is it an altruistic act to leave this functionality enabled? I'm all for making wifi access easier for people.
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…
I noticed this option in my settings months ago and disabled it then.
How does this work with data caps? Is Amazon going to reimburse me for overage charges from my ISP if my neighbors are using my data?
Amazon notes this in their FAQ: it's capped at 80kbps and max of 500MB per month. I don't know if this includes Bluetooth though.
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.
The exploit attack vector mentioned is already a risk to any device connected to a sensitive network. VLAN your consumer devices, conference room screens, at minimum.
I'm curious - is it an altruistic act to leave this functionality enabled? I'm all for making wifi access easier for people.
https://www.tomsguide.com/reference/what-is-amazon-sidewalk
Added to my list for the next time I'm on the phone with my parents, for our (weekly at this point) how-to sessions on "stopping the industry I work in from spying on you". I really, really wish product managers would understand the kind of ecosystem they're building, and the kind of customer blow-back they will enable by optimizing for $$$ under the guise of "making things easier".
Side question: what problem does Amazon thinks this solves? Bad connectivity experiences for Ring users?
Edit: changed the link to a better guide linked elsewhere in the thread
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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-…
Another story on the front page right now[0] from the WSJ[1] seems to imply that arbitration clauses fall apart when faced with a mountain of arbitration demands (75k+). Amazon is now seeking to remove its own arbitration clause for customers so that these can be consolidated into a class action lawsuit. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27356550 [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-faced-75-000-arbitration…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's definitely scary. How is this even legal? In what world is it OK for Amazon to co-opt my internet connection and share it with random passers-by? Even if it's only 80kbps and 500MB/month (as another commenter pointed out), this will be just the beginning if they get their way. It will set a precedent for them and others. And they know that most people won't notice or care enough to turn it off! This is j…
There once was a time when I was happy to share my wi-fi with my neighbours. Everyone pays for their own household now, only because of general corporate scaremongering and specific lobbying to claim that the owner is liable for misuse. I remain surprised there isn't a bigger movement and open source infrastructure for sharing connections locally. If I was able to share a few connections with my apartment-neighbours,…
Personally, I'd be happy to share my connection with another human being
This isn't really the same thing though, it's Amazon treating all its customers like a harvestable resource, and reselling that resource as a value-add for their other products