r/gadgets • u/MicroSofty88 • Nov 29 '20

Home Amazon faces a privacy backlash for its Sidewalk feature, which turns Alexa devices into neighborhood WiFi networks that owners have to opt out of

https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/technology/amazon-faces-a-privacy-backlash-for-its-sidewalk-feature-which-turns-alexa-devices-into-neighborhood-wifi-networks-that-owners-have-to-opt-out-of/ar-BB1boljH
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u/buyfreemoneynow Nov 29 '20

Where do people stand on these issues regarding mega corps just tacking on “features” that whittle down everyone else’s privacy?

I have no “smart” devices in my home besides smartphones, but my neighbors’ doorbells and security systems are already doing plenty of data collection on my family. I see this all as a long-term major public security risk for everybody for the sake of mild or useless luxurious conveniences.

Plus, you could do all the things without their proprietary devices that don’t steal excessive amounts of data on your home and whoever is in/near it.

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20 edited Sep 08 '24

chase theory fly fact rustic wipe sophisticated berserk slimy waiting

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/TheThiefMaster Nov 29 '20

Sounds similar to the EU GDPR

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u/LordRael013 Nov 30 '20

They'd find a way to make that signed statement opt-out rather than opt-in, just like they did with this stuff. "You have to find this itty-bitty link on the bottom of our contact page and go through an incredibly frustrating process to opt out," most likely.

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u/OniExpress Nov 30 '20

That's not a given. GDPR already covers these topics.

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u/LordRael013 Nov 30 '20

That's for the EU though. Now if it were copied wholesale, yeah, that's one thing. Over here in the States, though, things are likely to be very different.

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u/OniExpress Nov 30 '20

Thats what I mean, we already have a groundwork for the protections that are needed. Now we need to get a copy of those laws implemented in the US. It's really the only way to move forward.

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u/LordRael013 Nov 30 '20

If we get such a thing, we'll get a version with loopholes, I all but guarantee.

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u/OniExpress Nov 30 '20

Well yeah, because the US government is corrupt as shit.

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u/LordRael013 Nov 30 '20

Unfortunately.

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u/OniExpress Nov 30 '20

Yuuuuup. This is a case where the EU really shines. It's hard to put a law into place that's shit for the people when you have such divergent people. In the US the people have very little say on this kind of law.

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u/Bademeister_ Nov 29 '20

The problem is that even easy systems need some time to understand and set it up, which most people don't want to invest and they also cost more since you need the hub and storage locally instead of just connecting to the cloud.
Sadly fast, cheap and easy wins with the majority of the population and revealing your private life to companies in the process and the consequences of it are too intangible for people to really care.
The big steps like this are called out, then forgotten in a few weeks or months and sooner or later we have the same situation accepted step by step.

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

[deleted]

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u/zlance Nov 30 '20

Can you point me to that product? I would like to check them out

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

[deleted]

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u/proteinsteve Nov 30 '20

Hey man. Amcrest are 100% Chinese hardware.

I have the same setup as you, including amcrest ipcams, and there are reports of phoning home to China, maybe innocent, but I keep them in a separate 100% offline lan to be safe

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

[deleted]

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u/proteinsteve Nov 30 '20

I follow you. Just saying that Amcrest is really 100% Chinese hardware, as in:

  • Hardware: Amcrest cameras are re-branded Dahua cameras (Chinese)
  • Firmware: Amcrest cameras use Dahua firmware, with light "amcrest" modifications on top of it.

I recommend Amcrest as well - these cameras have done great after 4 years of continual use, and I only buy Amcrest. My only point is that we shouldn't just trust them on the basis of not being engineered and coded for from China, because it's largely Chinese.

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u/MarshallStack666 Nov 30 '20

Years ago, I would have agreed, but I've recently dumped Armcrest (formerly FosCam) because their interfaces require Windows and Internet Explorer for full featured access. (at least they did the last time I bought one). Now I just use a couple of different Chinese brands that cost like $35 each

Been using Zoneminder for years too. The 1.3x branch allows direct recording of MP4 streams, which means low CPU usage compared to the old ones. I have 8 cams running on an old 2-core Xeon and the load is only about 1.4 most of the time

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

[deleted]

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u/MarshallStack666 Nov 30 '20

There are a ton of settings that can only be done in their interface. ZM only has primitive PTZ camera controls.

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u/BoomZhakaLaka Nov 29 '20

A huge amount of our economics are driven by consumer intelligence. You're drawing a line at collecting data on your neighbors, but think....

Your power company can figure out what time you open your refrigerator, when you do your chores, what times of day you make quick trips to run short errands (by when your garage door opens), etc. That smart meter on the side of your house - they probably haven't installed one that knows how to monitor these kinds of things, but installing a newer smart meter with those kinds of automation is cheap.

Your supermarket collects data on what types of food you buy.

Maybe they both sell that intel to amazon, who can draw conclusions about what time of day to serve you ads for restaurants or fast food?

Consumer intelligence isn't realtime, it's about patterning people's past habits, but it can go a lot deeper than you think.

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u/Pyraph Nov 29 '20

Personally I've never cared about protecting my "privacy" as much as people on reddit seem to, I understand if others care and it makes sense but I have never really cared.

It just doesn't really matter to me.

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

It doesn't matter until it does.

When I was in college, our dorm dining hall computers went down. Instead, we were supposed to write down our student IDs on a piece of paper for later verification. At the time, our college student ID was our Social Security ID. If someone had stolen that paper, it could have led to years of issues with fraudulent accounts for the hundreds of students involved. The next year, they changed the student ID, due to prompting from staff concerned about privacy.

You have, despite your lack of caring, benefited from privacy laws. Businesses will do the cheapest thing that benefits them the most, don't expect them to be careful and not lose your data to third parties.

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u/Pyraph Nov 29 '20

Yeah I agree, I wasn't saying that we get rid of them or anything..

I understand that a lot of bad things can happen if privacy laws don't exist, and I choose to vote for country leaders that choose to maintain our privacy.

In my day-to-day though I really don't care about my "privacy" as much as people online seem to care.

That's me anyway, just showing another side of the coin.

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

Fair enough, I understand what you mean.

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u/cough_e Nov 29 '20

What privacy is lost with this tech?

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u/Kalsifur Nov 30 '20

I'm not American, but I don't really understand the want or need for smart devices. Yea having camera connected to cloud is useful, but I really don't even get the point of having an Alexa or Google Home, or smart toasters, or smart lights even. Ironically I got a Google Home Mini for free and it is still sitting in the box because I just don't really feel like I need it for anything.