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Amazon Has Plans to Share Your Internet (via smart home devices) on June 8 (1 Viewer)

Nathan R. Jessep

Footballguy
This is crazy. A link in a daily news email caught my eye. This was the first I had heard of this. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/06/01/amazon-sidewalk-echo-devices-share-internet-june-8/5288353001/

tl;dr

If you have one of the eligible devices, AND DO NOT OPT OUT, your device will join the "Sidewalk" program, using Bluetooth and the 900MHz and other frequency spectrums to interlink devices so that they are always connected

WHAT COULD GO WRONG!? 

I'm usually all for new technology and trying things out, but I think this one's gonna be a no for me dawg. 

How to opt out of (or into) Amazon’s Sidewalk network

Amazon says that Sidewalk will get switched on this coming June 8th (Tile functionality will be enabled June 14th), and that it plans to automatically opt in all the eligible devices. The company’s published list of devices includes: Ring Floodlight Cam (2019), Ring Spotlight Cam Wired (2019), Ring Spotlight Cam Mount (2019), Echo (third gen and newer), Echo Dot (third gen and newer), Echo Dot for Kids (third gen and newer), Echo Dot with Clock (third gen and newer), Echo Plus (all generations), Echo Show (all models and generations), Echo Spot, Echo Studio, Echo Input, Echo Flex.


another link gianmarco provided with more info on how it works and what it does: https://www.cnet.com/home/smart-home/amazon-sidewalk-will-create-entire-smart-neighborhoods-faq-ble-900-mhz/

 
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I opted out of this, but I don't think it is some sinister plot either.  That said I don't have any concerns about wifi coverage so there isn't any need for me to enable this, and depending on the number of smart devices connecting to your network I could see where there could be bandwidth concerns.  I'm curious to how it works though with networks that have password authentication, is Amazon really sharing the password with other smart devices that aren't yours?

 
Can't wait for the day when the benefits of new technology are so great, they outweigh even the most paranoid of the "OMG my privacy!" people.  

 
Can you explain this to me like I'm Shuke?
It's basically trying to make every Amazon connected device a mesh network point.  Think of it like a repeater, it's taking the wifi signal and making it spread out farther.  If you had a smart device that was near the edge of your property, but was near someone else's smart device your device would hook into their network instead of yours because the signal is stronger.

 
It's basically trying to make every Amazon connected device a mesh network point.  Think of it like a repeater, it's taking the wifi signal and making it spread out farther.  If you had a smart device that was near the edge of your property, but was near someone else's smart device your device would hook into their network instead of yours because the signal is stronger.
Edge of my property?  Who do they think I am, the Duke of Windsor?  

I'll have my teenager show me what to do.  Thanks. 

 
Can't wait for the day when the benefits of new technology are so great, they outweigh even the most paranoid of the "OMG my privacy!" people.  
my concern is not as much amazon, but more having others potentially use my network. As long as my network is tied to an IP address here, if someone happened to be outside my house, on my network and doing something unscrupulous, that it would be recored as coming from my location.  I'm not smart enough to know exactly how that all works, but I know people use VPNs to mask their location all the time. Giving anyone I don't know access to my internet would not make me feel comfortable. 

 
my concern is not as much amazon, but more having others potentially use my network. As long as my network is tied to an IP address here, if someone happened to be outside my house, on my network and doing something unscrupulous, that it would be recored as coming from my location.  I'm not smart enough to know exactly how that all works, but I know people use VPNs to mask their location all the time. Giving anyone I don't know access to my internet would not make me feel comfortable. 
Yeah, same here. They claim how secure it us, but this seems like it would be a ripe target for hackers. I'm usually a willing participant to try new technology, etc., but Idk, I don't think I want to be on the bleeding edge of this one. 

 
Yeah, same here. They claim how secure it us, but this seems like it would be a ripe target for hackers. I'm usually a willing participant to try new technology, etc., but Idk, I don't think I want to be on the bleeding edge of this one. 
Totally depends on how they've set this up.  It's probably device to device, meaning the only a device that can pick up your network's signal can use it, not that it is broadcasting it across the web or anything.  That said I'm sure there are some very smart people out there that can figure out ways to abuse it.  I also think that this is something that 95% of people don't need and having a broadband mesh isn't something we need Amazon doing with their smart devices.

 
I went to the Alexa app on my phone and:

  • Select "More" in bottom right corner
  • scroll down and select Settings
  • select Account Settings
  • select Amazon Sidewalk
  • toggle the switch to Disabled
cc: @Poke_4_Life @AcerFC

 
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Totally depends on how they've set this up.  It's probably device to device, meaning the only a device that can pick up your network's signal can use it, not that it is broadcasting it across the web or anything.  That said I'm sure there are some very smart people out there that can figure out ways to abuse it.  I also think that this is something that 95% of people don't need and having a broadband mesh isn't something we need Amazon doing with their smart devices.
I don't think this is for us so much as it is for the "community". 

I also think if someone is smart enough to figure out how to hack into something like this, then they are smart enough to hack into what you or someone around you already has anyway. I don't think this changes anything.

 
I went to the Alexa app on my phone and:

  • Select "More" in bottom right corner
  • scroll down and select Settings
  • select Account Settings
  • select Amazon Sidewalk
  • toggle the switch to Disabled
cc: @Poke_4_Life @AcerFC
I don't see Amazon Sidewalk in my Account Settings.  I checked and the app is on the latest version.  

I'm on an Android phone if that matters.  I'll keep checking closer to June 8, maybe the Andriod app is behing the iOS app.  

 
@Foosball God

how did you opt out. I followed the videos steps and there was no sidewalk opt out option
@AcerFC Do you have the Alexa app on your phone?  Be aware if you have a Ring doorbell like me you need to do it there too.

In the Alexa app I clicked on the little 3 bar "More" icon in the bottom right, then went to "Settings" then "Account Settings" then there was a selection for Amazon Sidewalk, click on that and there should be a disable slider.

For Ring I went into the Ring app clicked the "More" icon on the top right, went to "Control Center" then down near the bottom is Amazon Sidewalk under the Community Control group, click on that and there is a slider to disable there.

 
Sounds similar to what Apple is doing with their new tracking device thingie, right?
Nope, not even close. This is giving your network access to devices that aren't on your network and using your internet. Apple Tag uses bluetooth and is tied to your Apple ID and doesn't give any network access of any kind.

 
Xfinity already rolled out something similar. Not exactly the same but similar. It was the first thing I turned off

 
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Xfinity already rolled out something similar. Not exactly the same but similar. It was the first thing I turned off
With two really big differences, the first being that it allows other xfinity subscribers to use your internet gateway, at no additional cost to youo and not bandwidth counted against you. Secondly, the guest network for xfinity subscribers was run off of their wifi routers and was a segmented network via firewall.

The Amazon has no segmentation and is not firewalled off. A ring camera doesn't have the horsepower to run any type of edge services for security....and neither do most alexa devices.

 
With two really big differences, the first being that it allows other xfinity subscribers to use your internet gateway, at no additional cost to youo and not bandwidth counted against you. Secondly, the guest network for xfinity subscribers was run off of their wifi routers and was a segmented network via firewall.

The Amazon has no segmentation and is not firewalled off. A ring camera doesn't have the horsepower to run any type of edge services for security....and neither do most alexa devices.
Well they say the Xfinity hotspot off their routers wouldn't slow your own network but are we really going to trust them :)

 
I went to the Alexa app on my phone and:

  • Select "More" in bottom right corner
  • scroll down and select Settings
  • select Account Settings
  • select Amazon Sidewalk
  • toggle the switch to Disabled
cc: @Poke_4_Life @AcerFC


@AcerFC Do you have the Alexa app on your phone?  Be aware if you have a Ring doorbell like me you need to do it there too.

In the Alexa app I clicked on the little 3 bar "More" icon in the bottom right, then went to "Settings" then "Account Settings" then there was a selection for Amazon Sidewalk, click on that and there should be a disable slider.

For Ring I went into the Ring app clicked the "More" icon on the top right, went to "Control Center" then down near the bottom is Amazon Sidewalk under the Community Control group, click on that and there is a slider to disable there.
Thank you guys. I did this but when I got to account settings, all I get is recognized voices, guest connect, voice purchasing and workouts. No sign of sidewalk

 
Thank you guys. I did this but when I got to account settings, all I get is recognized voices, guest connect, voice purchasing and workouts. No sign of sidewalk
I don’t have it in my iOS app either. It only affects 3rd gen devices and newer basically (or basically anything 2019 and newer). I wonder if the Sidewalk option isn’t even in the app if you don’t have a device it applies to.

 
I don't see Amazon Sidewalk in my Account Settings.  I checked and the app is on the latest version.  

I'm on an Android phone if that matters.  I'll keep checking closer to June 8, maybe the Andriod app is behing the iOS app.  
I'm on Android and have the option, so I don't think it's that.  I'm guessing it has to do with whether or not you even have a device that it applies to.

 
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