You Only Have A Few Days To Opt Out Of Amazon Taking Part Of Your Internet
If you have an Amazon Ring product or an Echo product you need to know that on June 8, Amazon will be taking a bit of your internet and putting into an internet basket to share with your neighbors. Ok, I'm not really sure if there is an actual internet basket or not, but I do know that Amazon says they have come up with a way to make sure that you always have access to your Amazon home products.
I don't have any of these products but here is a list of the ones that will be affected by Amazon Sidewalk:
Ring Floodlight Cam (2019)
Ring Spotlight Cam Wired (2019)
Ring Spotlight Cam Mount (2019)
Echo (3rd gen and newer)
Echo Dot (3rd gen and newer)
Echo Dot for Kids (3rd gen and newer)
Echo Dot with Clock (3rd gen and newer)
Echo Plus (all generations)
Echo Show (all models and generations)
Echo Spot
Echo Studio
Echo Input
Echo Flex
According to this article if you and your neighbor have Amazon devices that are covered in the Sidewalk program and you both haven't opted out, and their, let's say, Ring security camera on their garage doesn't get a good signal because it is too far from their Wi-Fi router and your router is closer or "you pay for better wi-fi, your camera will be able to send small amounts of data via your Wi-Fi signal."
Great. So part of your internet budget will be going to help a multi-billion dollar company to build a network that could conceivably be used to gain even more information about you and your family than Amazon already has. They already know what kind of products you like because you order stuff from them, they know your routine because your Ring and Echo can tell them that, too, and now they're building a ground level SkyNet network and you're paying for part of it?
I think I've just talked myself out of ever getting a Ring or an Echo.