I haven’t seen this report anywhere on DK yet, but I think it merits a heads-up to everyone who has an Amazon Alexa or Ring doorbell, and other Amazon-connected devices:
arstechnica.com/...
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.
By default, Amazon devices including Alexa, Echo, Ring, security cams, outdoor lights, motion sensors, and Tile trackers will enroll in the system. And since only a tiny fraction of people take the time to change default settings, that means millions of people will be co-opted into the program whether they know anything about it or not. The Amazon webpage linked above says Sidewalk "is currently only available in the US."
Yeah, really! FFS! This is so outrageous, even for Amazon.
Read the rest of the report from ArsTechnica to decide if you want to participate in sharing your private-home-or-office-network with everyone on your “Sidewalk.” This “experiment” by Amazon is opt-out only. Not opt-in. You have to go into your devices and turn off their involuntary participation in this questionably-insecure scheme to provide, sure, a “harmless little slice” of your bandwidth, which in 5-4-3-2...will be exploited with backdoor vulnerabilities by skilled hackers, and maybe you’ll never know it’s happening. (Home cameras, all your family conversations, your comings and goings as recorded by Alexa, etc.)
To turn off “Amazon Sidewalk” in your Alexa, do this:
- Opening the Alexa app
- Opening More and selecting Settings
- Selecting Account Settings
- Selecting Amazon Sidewalk
- Turning Amazon Sidewalk Off
A word to the network-privacy savvy...