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....
I am probably going to be caught off guard when real Artificial Intelligence comes along. What people call AI these days is A but not at all I. It doesn’t take any intelligence at all to create a program that will monitor spoken text and recognize words, then match those words with a list of products that are available. The Amazon Interface doesn’t care about anything in particular just about matching your thoughts with products it might make money from selling you. It’s not that intelligent. If you are talking around a dog it will ignore everything until you say Go or Meat. Dods are much smarter than AI.
Solution: DO NOT HAVE A ‘SMART’ HOME.
Solution: DO NOT BUY A CAR WITH A BUILT IN SATELLITE SYSTEM.
Very hard to do these days, especially if you want a car with other amenities. Doesn't matter anyway -- if you have a smart phone, and carry it with you, you're being tracked regardless of the car you're driving.
I was just surprised that Google was tracking me even when I didn't have my phone. My car had already been linked to me, via the phone, and they continued to track through satellite connectivity. Creepy, but that's the world we live in.
I have a feeling a lot of folks will be caught off guard by true AI, even those working on it. We'll probably wake up one day and it'll just be here.
Send all "Smart Home" appliances back to Amason as "Defective from the manufacturer",.. and demand a "full refund."
especially if you were not advized at the time of purchase that statements made "in the privacy of your own home"
could, or would be "censored" by Amason, or its employees.
as far as ring cameras go, I don’t see how they prevent crime....they record it, but they don’t stop it.....
Mmm no. He got hacked. Nobody is getting emails from Amazon executives or calling them.
Yeah ... looks like everybody has some equivalent to on-star,
now.
Yuck.
I want a car, not a cell-phone on wheels.
.
.
It isn’t your phone that is spying on you. It is Alexa and the doorbell.
I disable any camera or microphone I don’t want, and don’t use smart devices. I’m a “one motor, one machine” sort of guy.
I understand what you're saying, but Google tracking me in my car originated with my phone, and when Google continues to track my in-car movement/location -- even when I don't have my phone with me -- is absolutely spying in my book.
If you want better navigation without the Google connection, get a Garmon GPS device.
I’m not sure what you’re not understanding, or if you’re just responding without reading, but I DIDN’T HAVE MY PHONE WITH ME WHEN GOOGLE WAS TRACKING MY CAR.
Dude...
No, I don’t have navigation in my car, and that’s why I use my phone (Google Maps) via Android Auto.
In this case I went to PetSmart without my phone, and when I got back there was a Google notification (question) asking about my visit to PetSmart. My first response, of course, was “how did they know?!” That (usually) only happens when I have my phone with me, or when I’m using Google maps when traveling.
I suppose it is possible Google is monitoring my movements/purchases via another method — i.e. credit card — but no matter how it happened it shows Google’s reach throughout society, smart device or not.
Your government does this sort of tracking as well, only much more pervasive. 100% of your electronic communications is examined by government intercept. Voice is translated to text in real time and examined.
If you want to say something without being overheard, you must meet in person out in the woods near a strong waterfall, and then talk quietly into his ear. Be sure to cover your mouth. I kid you not.
The car is XM compatible (I've never subscribed), which is why I pointed at satellite connectivity initially. There has to be some two-way communication for them to verify your account/vehicle.
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