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

Post by deanCommie » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

a4isms wrote: post #118

criley2 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same thing Apple is doing. They want every device to be a part of a low-power BLE network for Apple AirTags or Amazon Echo Tiles or whatever they are. They want a huge network so that these small low power devices can use everyones devices to connect to the internet. For what it's worth, the only way to Opt-Out from Apple's broad network like this is to disable all "Find My" network tracking, so you'll never…

The idea of a mesh network is not what concerns most people. It’s the idea that devices from Amazon connect to it automatically and can do whatever they want with it. The canonical anti-example is this: You buy a smart TV, but don’t give it your WiFi password. No problem, it connects to any Amazon device whether in your house or next door, and now it can sell information about what you watch, how many people its came…

Post by Aissen » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

derekp7 wrote: post #164

Question -- I'm assuming most ISPs have something in their terms that prohibit a customer from sharing the connection. So with Amazon inducing a violation of customer terms of service, I wonder if ISPs will go after the customers, or go directly after Amazon for triggering the violations?

Post by Dylan16807 » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

chasebro wrote: post #121

ikiris wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As exchange for their otherwise unpaid service from those devices, they're using a fraction of your potentially capped internet if you happen to be in a market with such poor competition and/or poor regulatory environment that your service is capped.

So like 90% of the US?

Post by kergonath » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 9:40 PM UTC

rudyfink wrote: post #20

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-…

Post by Dylan16807 » Tue, Jun 01, 2021, 9:46 PM UTC

celsoazevedo wrote: post #108

failwhaleshark wrote: post #73

94.9% pure, organic, outrage, clickbait FUD. This feels like an "you're either with us or you're against us, Amazon B A D"-article. The central thesis is misleading and wrong because it's NOT "unlimited, direct sharing of your WiFi to whatever Amazon users happen to fall and scrape their knees outside your home because they can't skateboard," it's "likely low-rate connectivity for other Amazon users' devices over Blu…

The problem is that they're using my hardware, my internet connection and my electricity without paying me or asking for my permission.