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Your home automation devices are stealing your Internet Bandwidth
You love you home spy...oh I mean automation device(s). You tell it what to do and it makes your life ever so simple. Smart device play this, smart device do this. Blah Blah blah! Besides the obvious fact that it listens to everything you do or say, think of all those nasty comments you make about your untidy neighbor or about the current ruling party. Who has access to that info? Could that ever be used against you? Has any Government ever done anything like that in the past 100-years? Oh surely you joke!
I digress, did you know that your smart device has unfettered access to your Internet Bandwidth? Why should you care? What IF, the smart devices start to siphon off Internet Bandwidth for their own use?
Think I am smoking something odd? Think again, while you were sleeping or binge watching the latest and greatest, those engineers in the background as busy at work. Yes, working on a massive Mesh Network that you failed to take note of. Surprise, surprise.
Let's pick on Amazon and its Smart devices for a minute - They have that fancy Ring Doorbell and Amazon Echo (Family of products) both of which require access to your Internet. Amazon wants to pull together all your smart devices into a mesh network with your neighbors internet and then their neighbors and create a massive interlaced offering called Sidewalk.
What is Sidewalk? Sidewalk turns your Echo speakers and Ring gadgets into bridge devices. That gives internet-connected tech far from your router, like lights at the edge of your driveway. It utilizes Bluetooth and 900MHz radio signals to communicate between devices.
What is eligible? devices includes Ring’s Floodlight Cam, Spotlight Cam Wired and Spotlight Cam Mount from 2019 or later, along with most Echo models (including the Dot, Plus, Show, Dot for Kids and Studio) made after 2016.
Sounds cools but what is the catch? Amazon has stated the total monthly data is capped at 500MB per account or the rough equivalent of streaming 10 minutes of HD video.
Hmm, how secure is the sidewalk? promises the Sidewalk network uses three layers of encryption and that your neighbors won’t be able to see your data. Yeah, we all know the promise of security, however, it only takes one unsecured device to break the chain!
Can you break the sidewalk? Yes, I would recommend you opt out and now! Validate that Sidewalk is already enabled using the Alexa app on your phone.
First, visit either the iOS App Store or Google Play to ensure you have the latest version of the Alexa app installed. Once you’ve downloaded the app, sign in to your Amazon account and follow these steps:
1. Inside the Alexa app, tap More followed by Settings.
2. Tap Account Settings, followed by Amazon Sidewalk.
3. Turn Amazon Sidewalk off if you do not want to participate.
or Opt out (for all your devices) using Alexa app's More tab (at the bottom): Settings > Account Settings > Amazon Sidewalk > Enabled.
Summary - you have been warned, act now to take your privacy back!
