Posted on 06/13/2023 4:59:13 AM PDT by MtnClimber
You no longer control your home. Amazon does.
“Hey kids, be careful. If Alexa hears you say the wrong thing, nothing in the house will work anymore.”
They say that a fool and his cloud are easily parted.
We talk a lot about deplatforming, but when a single corporation doesn’t just control a site you use, but controls most of your life, everything from your doorbell to your vacuum, your music and your lightbulbs, and it decides that your politics are bad, you’ve got problems.
That’s exactly the situation that people put themselves in when they rely on Amazon or Google Home to control their smart home only to realize that they no longer control their home.
A touchy corporation that celebrates Pride Month and BLM all year round does. Beware of offending it.
A package was delivered to my house on Wednesday, May 24, and everything seemed fine. The following day, however, I found that my Echo Show had signed out, and I was unable to interact with my smart home devices…
The representative told me I should have received an email, which I indeed found in my inbox. It was from an executive at Amazon. As I dialed the number provided in the email, I half-wondered if Amazon was experiencing some issues and I was unwittingly falling into a scam.
When I connected with the executive, they asked if I knew why my account had been locked. When I answered I was unsure, their tone turned somewhat accusatory. I was told that the driver who had delivered my package reported receiving racist remarks from my “Ring doorbell”
Brandon Jackson, a Microsoft software engineer, who is writing this is actually black.
I reviewed the footage and confirmed that no such comments had been made. Instead, the Eufy doorbell had issued an automated response: “Excuse me, can I help you?” The driver, who was walking away and wearing headphones, must have misinterpreted the message. Nevertheless, by the following day, my Amazon account was locked, and all my Echo devices were logged out.
Since everything is centralized, losing your Amazon account also kills the smart home setup meaning that everything from thermostats to lights to vacuums might not work anymore.
However, I question why my entire smart home system had to be rendered unusable during their internal investigation. It seems more sensible to impose a temporary delivery restriction or purchasing ban on my account. Submitting video evidence from multiple angles right after my initial call with the executive appeared to have little impact on their decision to disable my account.
The short answer is because Amazon wields nearly unlimited power and sees no reason to compromise when cracking down. A single account provides better control and more leverage to punish anyone it doesn’t like....
If I wanted an automated home I'd do it myself.
I agree with you, but I have no other explanation for the personal examples I provided. And those aren’t the only examples I’ve encountered. They’re far too specific, and too frequent, to be mere coincidence.
“However, I question why my entire smart home system had to be rendered unusable”
I question why any sentient being would have a Ring doorbell, Alexis, smart refrigerator, wifi-connected Roomba, etc.
I get that my phone and TV can listen and watch — and probably are — so take care to not exercise my First Amendment rights even in my own home.
use sign-language or pig-latin
I have devices w Alexa in them, but I don’t use them. When I discovered recently Amazon keeps a database of your Alexa voice requests, I decided to make sure my database was empty.
I was pleased to find one entry from when I received my first FireTV w Alexa. My request said: “Jeff Bezos is an azzhole.”
Have to say, I laughed heartily and my past self.
Someone gave me a Alexis device. I never even took it out of the box and gave it away.
Zero interest in any sort of “Smart” home.
I’m also not talking about the phone alone, but “listening” across all your devices. There’s a identifying connectivity there, and one that I’ve never consented to.
Same here. One of our business associates gave us an Alexa as a "thank you" gift for all the business we send his way. We never took it out of the box, and we jokingly looked at each other and asked if was really our friend... ;-)
Amazon, like any company, has employees. Many of these employees if not most are left wing whackjobs. They can act against people they dont like regardless of company policy. The company will become liable for such acts.
I know a couple guys who are highly placed in the spooky world. 3-letter agency stuff. I know it’s probably not necessary, but I never mention their names in reference to their jobs. Never know what is listening.
I don’t believe any of this. Smart home features just quit now and then and a reboot fixes them. With the shopping features of Alexa shutting itself down would cut millions in revenue.
But you can set up cameras that will down load to your own private server for about the same price.
This footage will never be able to be accessed by the government with a warrant where with the ring footage all the FBI had to do is ask and every interaction they have recorded is promptly handed over without a warrant.
Been telling people for years to stop doing business with Commizon.
The “smart home door locks” can also be opened by a simple physical hack with a cordless drill. There are videos on YouTube.
I learned growing up in Gush Katif to use Assa Alboy deadbolts with metal doors and frames. Swing out. Nothing else comes.
Anyone dumb enough to purchase anything from Amazon, especially audio-enabled home devices, deserves anything they get.
Have started that...”notes,” and we dont have Alexa or smart home stuff...
“monumental lawsuits from people hurt precipitously stumbling around in the dark, no heat, frozen pipes”
According to the woke legal code those “haters” have no rights....
:-(
I got new German-made hearing aids a couple months ago. The audiologist said I could download an “app” to my phone to control their performance. I don’t put apps on the phone, but thought I would try this one.
The first thing the app told me was that I had to turn my cell phone locator device on, which I keep turned off. Why the h-ll does it need to know my geographic location to adjust my Blue Tooth hearing aids 3 feet away? That app was deleted and I will go with the audiologist settings on the hearing aids.
I would have sent the hearing aid company negative customer feedback, but, being good Germans, they didn’t ask for any.
Having a “smart home” and letting Amazon control it is dumb.
“The audiologist said I could download an “app” to my phone to control their performance.”
When the guys delivered and set up our new Sleep Number bed one of them asked for the password to our wi-fi and then they’d help us set up our cell apps. HUH??
Answer: “That will NEVER happen!”
I guess it can monitor your sleep habits or something, but that’s just too much! Your bed, added to a cell that listens. To quote my Sunday School teacher: “That ain’t riiiight.”
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