(edit, meant to put this in c/technology)
If you use Alexa, Echo, or any other Amazon device, you have only 10 days to opt out of an experiment that leaves your personal privacy and security hanging in the balance.
On June 8, the merchant, Web host, and entertainment behemoth will automatically enroll the devices in Amazon Sidewalk. The new wireless mesh service will share a small slice of your Internet bandwidth with nearby neighbors who don’t have connectivity and help you to their bandwidth when you don’t have a connection.
...
There’s a cool leftist version of this, but this ain’t it
Imagine a future socialist society where engineers develop stuff like this for the people instead of doing it for the oligarchs.
R E C U P E R A T I O N
it's so bad with tech
so much tech comes from engineering researchers doing psychedelics, realizing that cooperative strategies are more sound solutions, then some corp takes ownership of the solution with all the utility-value tolled all to hell
:agony-turbo:
it rules that they named this after a public service and unambiguous public good (the sidewalk) while it’s a corporate theft of personal property to bolster the corporation’s agenda
It's a little road that they put on the side of the main road, except only pedestrians can drive down it, not cars
where I live they literally only build sidewalks in the rich area but no one ever uses them because they all drive car. Meanwhile I have to always walk in the street :angery:
Here, they make businesses build them, but only in front of their stores, so you get this ridiculous patchwork of sidewalks.
When I read about stuff like this my thoughts are always the same: This could be a really cool and useful technology, if it was placed in the hands of the people as a universal service. But in the hands of a tyrannical sociopathic institution like Amazon, Google, Facebook etc. it's going to be a dystopian nightmare."
Did anyone else used to foolishly believe WiFi would just kinda cover everything like phone signal or radio station? It's just a frequency.
To be able to track not only the people who buy Amazon “smart” devices, but the people who walk by their houses as well
Just wait.
Plus how long before all of these fucking interconnected RF devices are generating live radar maps or some kind of similar information
TED WAS RIGHT
Ostensibly network continuity and a “better user experience”
Here’s what they say
What is Amazon Sidewalk?
Amazon Sidewalk is a shared network that helps devices work better. Operated by Amazon at no charge to customers, Sidewalk can help simplify new device setup, extend the low-bandwidth working range of devices to help find pets or valuables with Tile trackers, and help devices stay online even if they are outside the range of their home wifi. In the future, Sidewalk will support a range of experiences from using Sidewalk-enabled devices, such as smart security and lighting and diagnostics for appliances and tools.
They want their Ring surveillance devices to be able to be placed basically anywhere. At least for now, that's what this seems to be.
It sure would be a shame if there was a coordinated effort to destroy those things in Minecraft. I swear there are more houses with them than without now. How long until it's legally required to have a camera on your house that the police can access at any time?
They're not really saying. My tin-foil hat explanation is that they want an ad-hoc internet replacement that is resistant to being physically severed. This way they can continue as normal after an apocalyptic scenario.
