Alexa/Echo Owners Become Part of Amazon's Massive 'Sidewalk' Mesh Network By Default (inc.com) 168
A tech columnist for Inc. noticed that on June 8th Amazon will finally power up its massive "Sidewalk" mesh network (which uses Bluetooth and 900MHz radio signals to communicate between devices). And millions and millions of Amazon customers are all already "opted in" by default:
The idea behind it is actually really smart — make it possible for smart home devices to serve as a sort of bridge between your WiFi connection and one another. That way, if your Ring doorbell, for example, isn't located close to your WiFi router, but it happens to be near an Echo Dot, it can use Sidewalk to stay connected.
The same is true if your internet connection is down. Your smart devices can connect to other smart devices, even if they aren't in your home. The big news on this front is that Tile is joining the Sidewalk network on June 14. That means that if you lose a Tile tracker, it can connect to any of the millions of Echo or Ring devices in your neighborhood and send its location back to you.
That's definitely a nice benefit, but it's also where things get a little murky from a privacy standpoint. That's because other people's devices, like your neighbor's, can also connect to your network. Amazon is pretty clear that Sidewalk uses three layers of encryption so that no data is shared between say, someone's Tile tracker and your network. The signal from the Tile is encrypted all the way back to the Tile app on your iPhone or Android smartphone... [But] whether or not you want your device connecting to other devices, or want your neighbors connecting to your WiFi, Amazon went ahead and made Sidewalk opt-out.
Opt out (for all your devices) using Alexa app's More tab (at the bottom): Settings > Account Settings > Amazon Sidewalk > Enabled.
The same is true if your internet connection is down. Your smart devices can connect to other smart devices, even if they aren't in your home. The big news on this front is that Tile is joining the Sidewalk network on June 14. That means that if you lose a Tile tracker, it can connect to any of the millions of Echo or Ring devices in your neighborhood and send its location back to you.
That's definitely a nice benefit, but it's also where things get a little murky from a privacy standpoint. That's because other people's devices, like your neighbor's, can also connect to your network. Amazon is pretty clear that Sidewalk uses three layers of encryption so that no data is shared between say, someone's Tile tracker and your network. The signal from the Tile is encrypted all the way back to the Tile app on your iPhone or Android smartphone... [But] whether or not you want your device connecting to other devices, or want your neighbors connecting to your WiFi, Amazon went ahead and made Sidewalk opt-out.
Opt out (for all your devices) using Alexa app's More tab (at the bottom): Settings > Account Settings > Amazon Sidewalk > Enabled.
No thanks (Score:2)
Thread [threadgroup.org] is the future of home automation.
Re:No thanks (Score:4)
The problem with these home automation protocol is that there seem to be a new one every year.
Re:No thanks (Score:4, Informative)
That's because before Thread, every company was trying to become the standard.
Thread is every company agreeing on what the standard actually is.
Re: (Score:3)
https://www.threadgroup.org/th... [threadgroup.org]
You may recognize Apple, Google and Amazon in that list - along with most companies already making smart home devices. Some companies have already published firmware updates to enable Thread in their products which have compatible wireless hardware.
Re: (Score:2)
So a brief looks show a simple contact sensor - a device with a single binary input - costs $40
A wired version would cost under $1, a zigbee version under $10. They have a ways to go if they want to compete in the current market
Re: (Score:2)
And I thought Zigbee was retarded...
And it only gets worse the deeper you go.
Had to build a ZLL implementation once upon a time. The entire thing is a festering pile of shit. I want to know how the fuck designs this shit.
Re: (Score:2)
Plausible Deniability (Score:5, Interesting)
Does this give everyone plausible deniability when some nefarious traffic is tracked back to their assigned IP?
Re: (Score:2)
Wasn't this whole "an I.P. can be associated with a person" thing ruled out in courts?
Re: (Score:2)
That's the way the slash-court ruled. Anyway 900 Mhz and BT sounds like something pretty slow for being bad with.
Re:Plausible Deniability (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a defense your criminal defense attorney can raise after you get hauled off to jail in a 4am flash-bang-grenade no-knock raid.
#landofthefree #cgnat
Re: (Score:2)
#landofthefree #cgnat
Most CGNAT implementations assign port ranges to subscribers. All anyone has to know is time and IP+port to uniquely identify a subscriber. The loss of the ability to be a peer rather than merely a spectator is more detrimental to freedom than the illusion of increased deniability.
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, this. Can you actually host your own web server? Only with permission - either f\a hosting service that takes your money and provides service as long as they care to, maybe a 'free' service that likewise does what they will, or you beg your ISP to let you send and receive the traffic to and from your little web server.
Oh, your ISP blocks those ports? And they claim it is for security? Huh.
Oh, your hosting service has found you doing, providing, or supporting, even obliquely, in a manner they do not app
Re: (Score:2)
It's really no problem..
I have a static IP address, and no blocked ports, and I have run web servers and email
Re: (Score:2)
You'd think that would encourage the adoption of IPv6, after all. Giving a unique address to every device in the world would make it harder to claim an IP address can be associated by more than one person - especially if the IP address leads to a specific smartphone or tablet.
Re: (Score:2)
Shrug. Who knows, though. Maybe you've thought of something they haven't.
Re: (Score:2)
This triple encryption mentioned is probably WPA equivalent over the air, Amazon VPN on that, and then a VPN of whatever third party device maker the traffic is for. That layer is probably going to include cheap junk with no security so the remote end could very well become an open exit relay to the full Internet.
Re: (Score:2)
In that, it can't.
This is a layer 7 AG.
Sure, you could setup your own AG somewhere on the internet, use it as a tunnel router, encapsulating traffic back through sidewalk to some device...
This is assuming Amazon allows unregistered endpoints, which I doubt they will.
But ultimately, why?
May as well go find a starbucks if you're that hard up for internet with an untraceable source.
Re: (Score:2)
They're opening it up to third party devices. Those devices' firmware are likely not going to be held to any security standard. You use the device itself as your way onto the Internet. No need for anything remote.
Re: (Score:2)
They're opening it up to third party devices.
That doesn't matter.
What the service does is specific. It's isn't a layer 3 router.
Those devices' firmware are likely not going to be held to any security standard.
Still doesn't matter.
If I plug some random device into my Zigbee ZLL network, it can't route arbitrary traffic through my Hue hub.
You use the device itself as your way onto the Internet. No need for anything remote.
Again, why?
Tunneling through a layer-7 AG is going to end up being overwhelmingly easier to track than just sitting at the curb next to a starbucks.
Your concern is a silly one.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Without any citation - There's nothing on the article and no reason to assume that they are correct. I think it's more likely that it will be an encapsulated "open pipe" and out of laziness, TCP/IP will get tacked on by the device maker. That way they can use poorly secured JSON-based APIs they've already created for other products. And out of laziness, the internal network the encapsulated traffic is joined to will probably have an unprotected Internet connection.
I don't know why you would assume that a
Re: (Score:2)
I am however familiar with Sidewalk.
The bridge only handles MQTT and HTTP/S (and I think a couple other protocols that I can't remember) proxying to registered endpoints in AWS.
Whether or not they're going to open it up for non-AWS third-party endpoints is an open question, but it still doesn't change things.
This makes sense, because the entire IoT industry runs off of JSONRPC and/or XMLRPC/SOAP over HTTP/S.
Nobody is making a fucking IoT unsecured wireless n
Re: (Score:2)
This triple encryption mentioned is probably WPA equivalent over the air, Amazon VPN on that, and then a VPN of whatever third party device maker the traffic is for.
No, the triple encryption is simply ROT-39.
Re: (Score:2)
one can't route whatever the fuck they want over it yet
There, FTFY
Re:Plausible Deniability (Score:4, Informative)
Ya, I see hax0rs routing layer-3 traffic over RPC/AG endpoints all the time.
No, really.
That's why when our SOC2 auditor wanted us to transition everything to AG endpoints, I said "No! people may use them to arbitrarily route internet traffic!"
Wait no, I didn't do that.
You need to sit in on some of my industry security meetings. I feel like you could teach us some shit.
Re: (Score:2)
Many ISPs have been doing this for years. For example in the UK, BT had a system where you could enable a public wifi spot on your home router and in exchange have free use of everyone else's. Very handy for plausible deniability if you are accused of piracy or breaking the law.
Sure (Score:2)
Simple solution (Score:2)
One simple solution is guest networks. Most routers can have guest networks enabled and set up separate from the main WiFi network. Just have Alexa and Echo devices add additional configuration to tell them which SSID to use for Sidewalk and let them use the guest network instead of the main one. Sidewalk can access the Internet connection but not the LAN and main WiFi network. The routers should also be able to apply bandwidth limitations to the guest network and give it a lower priority for access so it d
Re: (Score:3)
Many years a go, a company called FON did exactly this in the UK. You got a special wifi router, it setup a private network for you, and a FON network for any FON subscribers to use. I assume the password was universal, but I don't know for sure.
BT bought FON, and kept it as BT-FON for a while, but now it's just part of BT. They used it to provide Internet backup for the BT Mobile network, which (being BT) was a bit patchy anywhere more than about 10 feet from a telephone exchange. Now that BT bought EE, th
Re: (Score:2)
UPC (a cable TV and internet connection/traffic company) offered a similar service in Romania.
Your UPC-provided (rental or free-for-use) cable-TV to WiFi router had "your" WiFi network and a "UPC" WiFi hotspot/network.
Using a customer-specific username and password, you could connect to these hotspots.
Unfortunately, my phone at the time was unable to offer an acceptable connection (i.e. decent speed and free of interruptions), so I didn't use it.
I think the distance between my mobile phone and the WiFi hots
Re: (Score:2)
One simple solution is guest networks. Most routers can have guest networks enabled and set up separate from the main WiFi network
Some Internet providers (US) do this by default in their modem/router firmware - they have it set up so that if you and your friend both have, say, Fios - your friend walks into your house and can connect to the open guest Fios SSID (which is the same on all Fios routers). I believe he's then taken to a captive portal where he enters credentials to prove he's a Fios subscriber. His usage doesn't count towards your data caps.
This isn't a function I want enabled on my home network, but it's a HELL of a lot be
Re: (Score:2)
No need for an open network. The guest network can be configured with the same security options as the main network, and since you only have to worry about your own devices having access to it they can allow you to configure credentials just like they do for the main network. That would allow the Alexa/Echo devices to act as a bridge for other devices without needing to grant random devices access to the guest network directly.
Looking at DD-WRT, it looks like you can configure multiple guest networks since
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Didn't Xfinity/Comcast start doing this for you automagically some years back?
Re:Simple solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Didn't Xfinity/Comcast start doing this for you automagically some years back?
Comcast doing this makes far more sense than Amazon though. At least Comcast would be able to differentiate where the bandwidth is being used so I am not being charged extra for my neighbor's Internet usage.
Re:Simple solution (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
If you rent a router/gateway from them, yes. You can disable it, and if you use your own equipment then you don't have it.
I'm no expert, (Score:5, Interesting)
but doesn't this increase the attack surface by a pretty large factor? How many closed-source data paths with undisclosed vulnerabilities does this add to the network?
As for all that expanded Tile-tracking capability - well, I'm not sure I'd want it to be that easy for other people to track my Tile-connected stuff. Not that I'd ever allow one of these Big Brother devices into my own home. Even if I wasn't fairly tech-savvy I think I'd just be creeped out by it all.
For me this is just the final, irrevocable confirmation that such systems are designed to make us serve them, rather than t'other way around.
Re: (Score:2)
If compromised, it makes a nice Tor-like network for attackers to use to hide their origin.
Re: (Score:2)
I wouldn't mind owning and sharing out a dedicated "mesh network hub" of some sort as a way to provide better connectivity across my community, but I would not give that hub the kind of privileged access to my home network that a device I interact with often gets. I don't own an Echo, but this seems like functionality that ought to be kept well separate. But I know most people wouldn't buy such a hub on its own, which means the mesh is too thin. Given that, I might be ok if there were two separate devices t
Re: (Score:2)
That's literally how Tile works. Your phone being able to find it is only useful if it's near you. When you lose one you are relying on other people's phones to locate it for you.
Same with Apple AirTags. Of course they are incompatible so you have competing networks and multiple apps wasting battery power.
Thanks for the reminder (Score:2)
I remember reading about this, and I disabled it when I read about it.
Checked again, and it is still disabled.
Re: (Score:2)
Is the Sidewalk traffic distinguishable from all the other noise these devices make on the network?
Re: (Score:2)
I only have one device, and communications are disabled. The only thing I use it for is to stream music while I'm working in my home office, and it is powered off otherwise.
Re: (Score:2)
You should be able to tell with a quick Wireshark session. All the Ring and Alexa devices have the MAC printed on them.
last line of summary most critical (Score:4, Informative)
Opt out (for all your devices) using Alexa app's More tab (at the bottom): Settings > Account Settings > Amazon Sidewalk > Enabled.
thanks, that is the only useful part of this story. will ensure my parents devices are opted out and my wifes.
glad i dont one one (Score:2, Redundant)
Re: (Score:2)
because after reading this i would be taking a hammer to it and smashing it to smithereens
Yup. And my wife wonders why I refuse to allow any of her (numerous) Echo Dots in my home office.
It is US only (Score:3)
The summary should mention this is a US-only feature. I had to look it up as I could not find such a feature on the Alexa app.
I do have an echo dot - I caved when it went for a silly price, but I do find it useful as it is quite a decent little speaker and can give you some answers to simple questions (notice "simple" as Alexa is quite stupid overall) & set up timers/alarms etc. I don't mind my voice being recorded and sent to Amazon - I mean I have a smartphone so any major actor has access to it anyway, but I would not appreciate auto opt-ins on mesh networks.
Re: (Score:3)
Because other countries would go ape-shit at the use of your private facilities or transmission of your data without opt-in based permission.
My objection would be more along the lines of "Fuck off, I'm not letting random strangers use my wifi bandwidth in any capacity" because my Wifi is 4G-backed and I'm not having some video doorbell that's nothing to do with me silently piggy-back on the back of that connection while I'm paying for it.
It's not a coincidence that I work in IT and yet have none of these de
Bandwidth (Score:2)
Regardless of the security implications, what about my bandwidth? Is XFinity going to know what traffic was mine and what was my neighbors? I already have enough problems with their data caps now that my wife and I work from home.
Opt-out option (Score:5, Insightful)
The only sure way to opt-out is not buy the device. Microsoft has a checkbox for opting-out of "features" that don't do anything so why should I trust Amazon?
Re: (Score:2)
The only sure way to opt-out is not buy the device.
Correction: the only way to be sure is to nuke it from space.
"Disabled" -- take to be recycled (Score:2)
Ideally, ideas like this should be killed with fire. There are just so many things that should die. If the US consumer based refused stuff like this as they did with DIVX (not the codec... the Circuit City DVD competitor), things wouldn't be as grim in daily computing.
Of course, there is the sure way to "disable" this functionality. Get rid of the devices that use it, or don't buy them in the first place.
Sometimes I wonder if this is going to allow certain people or companies the ability to mine HNT.
No way (Score:2)
"The idea behind it is actually really smart — make it possible for smart home devices to serve as a sort of bridge between your WiFi connection and one another. That way, if your Ring doorbell, for example, isn't located close to your WiFi router, but it happens to be near an Echo Dot, it can use Sidewalk to stay connected."
Thank goodness that this capability will never be abused or used maliciously in any way. Whew.
Re: (Score:2)
What bothers me about this, even IF you make the assumption this isn't going to get hacked and abused in some way, is the realization this is a proprietary thing from Amazon. Yeah, Tile might be agreeing to serve as a partner. But all in all, this seems to primarily just serve the purpose of trying to make Ring doorbells more useful? After all, if people buy Ring for security purposes but Internet outages mean they didn't capture any video of the guy stealing their package off the porch or ?? They're not g
Re: (Score:2)
I just don't want to have my gear used to further Amazon's or Ring's profits. Pay me to be part of your mesh network otherwise it looks like loser proposition for me.
My Eufy video doorbell isn't going to benefit from this in any way. (And considering it saves to an SD card internally, saving me monthly cloud subscription fees? That's the way I like it.)
Same here. I have an RCA doorbell that captures to internal memory as well as dumping 24/7 video to a NAS in my home.
Just another reason (Score:3)
Just another reason why I don't (and won't ever) have Alexa or any other always-on, always-listening voice-gadget in my home.
Opt Out Should Be Default (Score:2)
Opt out your devices... (Score:2)
We've been making this, as an alternative (Score:2)
Alexa, stop stealing my bandwidth. (Score:3)
No smart devices (Score:2)
Re:Same as Apple then (Score:5, Interesting)
Same as what from Apple? This isn't about Tile vs AirTag.
And who knows how much of your monthly data quota all this extra, opt-out crap is going to cost you, especially if you live in a big city where there's bound to be hundreds if not thousands of devices connecting to "your part of sidewalk".
Re: (Score:3)
thousands of devices connecting to "your part of sidewalk".
thousands of devices shitting on "your part of sidewalk".
Fixed.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
From the CNET article:
Amazon claims that the 900MHz band, which is the same band used for amateur UHF radio broadcasts, allows for range of up to half a mile.
Goodbye 900 MHz bandwidth for any other uses?
Re: (Score:2)
Wonder if that'll mess with legacy NCR WaveLAN 915 MHz point to point network hauls?
Re: Same as Apple then (Score:3, Informative)
Apple uses iPhones as a mesh network to give airtags network access and that's with mobile data plans.
Re: (Score:3)
Except we're only talking about a single product here (AirTags) vs all the devices that will connect to Amazon's Sidewalk.
The real question is, how much data doe AirTags use and is there a setting in iOS to control this mesh network feature? If we're talking a few KB per day then it doesn't matter much. If we're talking a few MB per day then it's more than enough to bust really small data caps.
Re: (Score:2)
Except we're only talking about a single product here (AirTags) vs all the devices that will connect to Amazon's Sidewalk.
.
More importantly, to add to your point, Apple controls every aspects of that product integration (for better or for worse).
Re: (Score:2)
Isn't unlimited data pretty much the norm these days on cellular phone plans?
Re: (Score:2)
No it isn't.
Bluetooth tracking too? (Score:2)
Should be easy, and cost small storage space, for every mesh device to timestamp every BT device passing by.
Re: (Score:2)
And who knows how much of your monthly data quota all this extra, opt-out crap is going to cost you
Less than 1 gigabyte a month. It also does NOT use data if you're on a cellular connection.
Re:Same as Apple then (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't remember any journo even mentioning it for Apple though.
That's because this is an entirely different beast than what Apple did.
Amazon veered off-course into crazy town with this feature because—at least based on what the summary says, given that the link is a 404—it allows any IoT device to have its signal forwarded via a neighboring network. So, guess who foots the bill for 24/7 streaming of HD video footage from your neighbor's Ring doorbell and security cameras if your neighbor didn't pay their ISP this month and you have an Echo Dot close enough to their house to carry the signal? You do. And when your creepy neighbor on the other side wants to put a camera on your property to spy on your daughter? They won't even need to put a cellular hotspot or WiFi repeater within range, since your Amazon devices will happily forward the signal back to them...in an encrypted, fully secure manner designed to best protect their privacy.
There's a big difference between allowing a single purpose, locked down, low intensity use case and permitting general purpose use cases that are ripe for abuse.
Re: (Score:2)
I can't even imagine how such a thing can be launched by default, with opt-out possible, only if one is able to care.
When you are acquiring devices, buying them out, you suppose they are absolutely for your, fully controllable use.
This is about to be broken in a quite strange manner.
Re: (Score:2)
I generally defend Amazon because I think most of the stuff they do makes sense (I work there, but would have no hesitation to criticize them). In this case I think they've totally fucked up the rollout of this thing. I can see the value of it, but **ONLY** if it's an opt-in config, and even then only opt-in **BY DEVICE**. I have a camera/floodlight on the fishpond to keep the raccoons out, and it's on the edge of our wireless range. If it could talk to the Dot that's only 20 feet away that would be gre
if you work there... (Score:2, Insightful)
you're part of the problem. Congrats on working for a company that pisses in the face of human rights and workers' rights worldwide.
Things like Rekognition make sense if you're cop scum who wants to add to the dismal mass incarceration rate in the jolly 'ol "land of the 'free'."
Re: (Score:2)
Way to spout about things you haven't bothered to research.
Working conditions, pay scale, and benefits in Amazon Fulfillment Centers are head and shoulders above almost all non-Teamsters warehouse jobs.
Rekognition is not available to police.
re: Amazon (Score:3)
I'm curious what your role is inside Amazon? I, too, worked for AWS, and am happy to be gone from that hell-hole after less than a year employed there.
I'd argue that very LITTLE that company does makes much sense. Amazon is a textbook case of a big company that's immensely successful in spite of itself. The original vision to "sell everything to everyone" was largely realized on the retail side, cementing them into a very profitable position in the market. That's not the problem. (They were predicted t
Re: Amazon (Score:4, Interesting)
Physical security (key cards, cameras, alarm points, etc.) on the Corporate side. Formerly worked in the AWS SOC for four years when that was separated from the main Amazon system.
Young, single, talented but naive about the way other companies would treat them doing the same job, and quite often foreign workers on H1B too
I'm 60, married 33 years, and spent eight years at one of the best physical security providers in the Puget Sound area prior to coming to Amazon. I'm making 40% more than I was there and am working with some of the most intelligent people that I've ever met, I really enjoy it.
Chime is actually pretty good now, Slack is using it for instant messaging and meetings. Sucked the first couple of years, I was more than a little annoyed when they took Skype away, but the refresh rate for updates stayed really high until it got stable and pretty usable.
Loathe Tamper Monkey as well, fortunately I don't need to deal with it in this job.
Re: (Score:2)
They don't seem to have quite decided yet if/how to allow arbitrary end points, for now all their partners need a certificate from Amazon to get on the network.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, and imagine living in an apartment building where you can already see 15-20 bluetooth devices that you know aren't in your unit.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This isn't so you can connect to the Internet, it's so devices can connect to it. You can't expect every smart device to have a cellular connection, that would be madness.
As for home automation, it's not about "talking to your house", it's about automating the features you want. This is the same "why would anyone need this" type of questioning that always happens when new technology is introduced. We all went through this with things like microwave ovens, computers, cellphones, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
As for home automation, it's not about "talking to your house", it's about automating the features you want. This is the same "why would anyone need this" type of questioning that always happens when new technology is introduced.
"Home automation" is not new technology. It's been around for decades and there is still not a useful answer that does not devolve into niche scenarios of questionable value.
Re: (Score:2)
But in this case why not just have your own 900MHz hub? That's how people do it day, they have a hub (either a standard like Zigbee or a proprietary one) that connects to their wifi and allows their devices to talk to it.
Range at lower frequencies is better and the data rate is very low too, so unless you have a massive house it will cover everything, and if you do have a massive house you can buy two hubs.
Re: (Score:2)
Some applications require a lot of bandwidth (i.e. audio and video, ex: smart doorbells with camera).
Re: (Score:2)
Sub 1GHz bands would not work very well for video. Aside from being lower bandwidth they are used by many devices that make no attempt to avoid talking over others. You are allowed to blindly transmit in those bands.
For that you really do need wifi.
Re: (Score:2)
But as you might expect, there is no "good answer" to these types of questions because the typical usage will vary from person to person.
But here are a few real-world examples:
- You're on the road, you've been driving for two hours but now you can't remember if you locked the front door or not. Solution: check the smart lock status on your phone. If you really left the house without locking it, you can lock it remotely. You can also see if anyone entered the house through that door during the time it was un
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Get better soon! Listen to the PT people, they are amazing. "Pain is weakness leaving the body" and "motion is lotion" turned out to be pretty true phrases when I broke my knee. Good luck!
It's not you that's the target customer (Score:3)
You'll find that the hardware for a node and interconnection subscription will be cheaper than a cell node.
So kit like your TV will be part of the mesh, and serve ads and surveil you without using your internet connection directly. Indirectly, if you have Ring etc, or indirectly if an in-reach neighbour does. In higher density neighbourhoods, you're done honey chile.
Next step is the TV not workling without a connection, similar to many games.
Re: (Score:2)
There are plenty of good reasons to do things like that.
Being able to monitor what happens at home when you are not home for instance is quite useful.
For instance, my thermostat is internet connected. I was on a trip for month so my house stayed empty. You want your house climate controlled somewhat to control humidity, but you don't care about the temperature itself. So I adjusted the temperature home to make sure the house stayed at a reasonable humidity without running a huge electric tab.
One day, the te
Re: (Score:2)
We do Airbnb with our cottage. We can answer the doorbell if we're not there or if the guests are having trouble accessing the key box or have locked themselves out.
We have a motion sensor on our fishpond because of the raccoons, we can turn on the light and sounder even if we're at our cottage an hour away.
We get alerts if the Airbnb guests get into the closet with the "Off Limits" sign on it.
We can get alerts if the sound of breaking glass is heard at either house while we're out.
I can turn the light in
Re: (Score:2)
That's for new signups. The way I'm understanding this story, existing ones have it enabled.
Not my problem, I don't use Amazon or Alexa so I'm not about to be part of this anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
This shadow organization would have to somehow get people to buy large number of devices to create the dark mesh. That's going to be tricky (impossible?) for a hidden organization. While there are several legit security concerns about this announcement, I don't think this one counts.