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42 lines
2.6 KiB
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42 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
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title: Amazon Sidewalk? Not Without Compensation.
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layout: post
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date: 2023-03-28 20:47:14
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permalink: /blog/2023/MAR/28-amazon-sidewalk?-not-without-compensation..php
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excerpt_separator: <!--more-->
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---
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Amazon has oepened up Sidewalk. But what is it; and why am I demanding compensation for it?
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I'm sure you've heard of the "Internet of Things". It's a stupid marketing term for devices that use small amounts of bandwidth to provide some
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internet connectivty. I've thought this term was as stupid as "the cloud"...because it indicates it's something special. It's a marketing gimmick
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designed to water-down tech and give people a new buzzword.
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The "Internet of Things" is just...the internet. Years ago if we put our coffee maker online so we could trigger a brew remotely...we didn't call it
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IoT...the only thing that's changed is...well...marketing.
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But I digress. Amazon has opened up Sidewalk to any developer. It is an "IoT" network that provides connectivity over 900MHz. This is all fine and good;
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except it's being largely funded BY THE USERS. By default...a lot of Amazon devices will provide an access node for Sidewalk using *your* internet. Yes; they are, by default, sharing your internet
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connection.
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What do you get in return? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. To make this worse...you literally paid Amazon buying some privacy-invading device that does this.
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This, IMO, is the worst kind of behavior. Why the fuck should I, or anyone, share my internet connection with people I don't know. Why should I be providing
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what is essentially infrastructure to an Amazon service for nothing in return?
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Amazon should start forking some kind of incentives for this. I'm paying for the hardware, I'm paying for the internet, I'm paying for the electricity. This should
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not be an opt-out; it should be opt-in.
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But..I'm sure if they required opt-in...people wouldn't do it and they wouldn't have another service to resell.
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Years ago a place..I think it was called Fonera or LaFonera; wanted to build a public wifi "network", a way of encouraging companies to offer free wifi back before
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LTE and stuff was a thing. The exception with them was they literally gave you the hardware. Fill out a form, get free hardware. Even had dual-AP support so you could
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have a public AND private AP for your business.
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Sadly...a lot of people won't do shit about this in the long run. They'll continue to buy these devices, automatically opted in, while a cash-heavy company like Amazon
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continues to make some kind of profit off them. It's not enough you buy shit; but you're also providing a service.
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Seriously Amazon...stop treating your customers this way. It's highly disrespectful.
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