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Post by librarylady on May 30, 2021 0:52:48 GMT
tag onto YOUR bandwidth. If you have Ring doorbell, Alexa and other devices you may want to read up on how to opt out.
Sidewalk uses products such as the Echo (4th gen), Echo Dot (4th gen) as bridges for devices such as Tile trackers and Ring car alarms to connect to. Those devices might be yours, or they might be your neighbours’. The intention is to create a wide-ranging network covering whole cities, that everyone’s devices can access, provided of course they approved to work with Sidewalk.
ETA this link
So far so tempting, but the more controversial part of Amazon Sidewalk is the way it shares some of your internet bandwidth with your neighbors (and gets some back in return), creating a much wider network of devices that can operate independently. If your internet goes down, your Ring camera can connect to the internet next door to keep sending you alerts, assuming both of you are set up with Sidewalk.
Likewise, if your neighbor's internet goes down, their smart devices can temporarily connect to your router and the Sidewalk network you've created. If Amazon has its way, entire blocks will become Sidewalk networks, improving reliability and stability for all the smart devices contained inside them, and meaning that you'll be able to unlock your smart door more easily from the other end of the street.
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Post by Lexica on May 30, 2021 1:00:31 GMT
Thank you for alerting me to this. I have gone ahead and shut it down on my account. That doesn't necessarily mean that I will leave it off. I need to investigate this more to make an informed decision and I don't want it running without my knowing about it.
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Post by dewryce on May 30, 2021 1:14:14 GMT
Thank you for alerting me to this. I have gone ahead and shut it down on my account. That doesn't necessarily mean that I will leave it off. I need to investigate this more to make an informed decision and I don't want it running without my knowing about it. I agree, and tfs librarylady! I don’t understand nearly enough about the technology to make an informed decision, so I hope there are some peas with the knowledge that can share with us. I like part of the idea, to help others where service may be patchy or have gone down for whatever reason, all onboard with that. But my immediate concern would be others being on my network, what access would they have to my information and devices, if any? The article states there are several layers of security, but in some circumstances that doesn’t mean much. |
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Post by librarylady on May 30, 2021 1:17:46 GMT
I don't know that much either, so I posted the links for each person to investigate and decide what her family will do.
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CeeScraps
Pearl Clutcher
~~occupied entertaining my brain~~
Posts: 3,831 
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Post by CeeScraps on May 30, 2021 1:32:29 GMT
tag onto YOUR bandwidth. If you have Ring doorbell, Alexa and other devices you may want to read up on how to opt out.
Sidewalk uses products such as the Echo (4th gen), Echo Dot (4th gen) as bridges for devices such as Tile trackers and Ring car alarms to connect to. Those devices might be yours, or they might be your neighbours’. The intention is to create a wide-ranging network covering whole cities, that everyone’s devices can access, provided of course they approved to work with Sidewalk.
ETA this link
So far so tempting, but the more controversial part of Amazon Sidewalk is the way it shares some of your internet bandwidth with your neighbors (and gets some back in return), creating a much wider network of devices that can operate independently. If your internet goes down, your Ring camera can connect to the internet next door to keep sending you alerts, assuming both of you are set up with Sidewalk.
Likewise, if your neighbor's internet goes down, their smart devices can temporarily connect to your router and the Sidewalk network you've created. If Amazon has its way, entire blocks will become Sidewalk networks, improving reliability and stability for all the smart devices contained inside them, and meaning that you'll be able to unlock your smart door more easily from the other end of the street.
This is bad….really bad IMO. I don’t want anyone else on our network for any reason. I realize that may sound selfish, but this could be horrible. |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 1, 2024 17:51:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2021 1:43:41 GMT
Yep. Posted about it last year and disabled it on Alexa. Doesn’t seem to be on Ring doorbells yet.
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Post by nlwilkins on May 30, 2021 15:19:14 GMT
It may be safe to use right now. But, now there is incentive to figure out how to break the code and get into your network. Once the furor dies down, users may forget about it being active on their account, and then the risks get higher. Never underestimate the ability of those who will try to break into your network and steal your personal info.
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lizacreates
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,856
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Post by lizacreates on May 30, 2021 16:26:24 GMT
tag onto YOUR bandwidth. If you have Ring doorbell, Alexa and other devices you may want to read up on how to opt out.
Sidewalk uses products such as the Echo (4th gen), Echo Dot (4th gen) as bridges for devices such as Tile trackers and Ring car alarms to connect to. Those devices might be yours, or they might be your neighbours’. The intention is to create a wide-ranging network covering whole cities, that everyone’s devices can access, provided of course they approved to work with Sidewalk.
ETA this link
So far so tempting, but the more controversial part of Amazon Sidewalk is the way it shares some of your internet bandwidth with your neighbors (and gets some back in return), creating a much wider network of devices that can operate independently. If your internet goes down, your Ring camera can connect to the internet next door to keep sending you alerts, assuming both of you are set up with Sidewalk.
Likewise, if your neighbor's internet goes down, their smart devices can temporarily connect to your router and the Sidewalk network you've created. If Amazon has its way, entire blocks will become Sidewalk networks, improving reliability and stability for all the smart devices contained inside them, and meaning that you'll be able to unlock your smart door more easily from the other end of the street.
This is bad….really bad IMO. I don’t want anyone else on our network for any reason. I realize that may sound selfish, but this could be horrible. It’s not selfish. There’s a reason most people secure their networks as best they can. Three-layered encryption in Sidewalk, IMO, means nothing. If the Dept of Defense can be hacked, what would make me think this wouldn’t be? And for me to trust Amazon with a secondary network—eh, no, thank you. If the problem is that the Internet of Things devices are too far on the fringes of a home to reliably pick up the wi-fi signal, then a booster solves it. Interruption in ISP, in my experience, is from blackouts. That would mean my entire neighborhood so having a neighborhood network would be useless. I see no personal need for me to open my network to anyone else. YMMV. There’s also the fact that Amazon set enabling the devices to serve as bridges as the default. That’s sneaky. |
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Deleted
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Jun 1, 2024 17:51:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2021 17:00:32 GMT
For those with Xfinity, they do the same thing. They make it sound like a great feature for your guests so that you don't have to share your password, but way down in the attached FAQ's, it states: What's good about an expanded Xfinity WiFi network? With the Xfinity WiFi hotspot feature, you're helping to build a bigger network that can benefit your friends, neighbors and all Xfinity Internet customers. And it's good for you, too, because when you need a hotspot, it'll be there. Here's more about it and how to disable it on your account: www.xfinity.com/support/articles/xfinity-wifi-hotspots |
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Post by mollycoddle on May 30, 2021 17:23:20 GMT
I don’t have any of those devices, and now I’m more determined than ever not to get any of them. That’s just too invasive.
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lizacreates
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,856
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Post by lizacreates on May 30, 2021 19:10:04 GMT
For those with Xfinity, they do the same thing. They make it sound like a great feature for your guests so that you don't have to share your password, but way down in the attached FAQ's, it states: What's good about an expanded Xfinity WiFi network? With the Xfinity WiFi hotspot feature, you're helping to build a bigger network that can benefit your friends, neighbors and all Xfinity Internet customers. And it's good for you, too, because when you need a hotspot, it'll be there. Here's more about it and how to disable it on your account: www.xfinity.com/support/articles/xfinity-wifi-hotspotsRight. But the Xfinity gateway is dual-network with a separate access point for guests. Private and guest do not intersect. I know because I have an Xfinity gateway—two IDs for the two radio bands, and a separate ID for the hotspot. Sidewalk, on the other hand, uses private networks (irrespective of ISP and gateway) interconnected via bridges. That’s where the vulnerability is most pronounced. Obviously, Amazon couldn’t set this up with public/guest wi-fi because owners connect these devices like Ring, Echo, etc to their private networks and Amazon needs those devices to act as bridges. |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 1, 2024 17:51:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2021 21:25:36 GMT
lizacreates that's good to know. Back when it first came out, there were some concerns mentioned about possible vulnerabilities so mine has been turned off for a few years now.
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sassyangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,456
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Post by sassyangel on May 30, 2021 21:45:13 GMT
I simply don’t like that the default is to be opted in, and you have to opt out *if* you find out. That’s totally unacceptable. Besides the security concerns, some people have ISPs with bandwidth limits.
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Post by freecharlie on Jun 2, 2021 1:10:06 GMT
Most of our devices are too old for this, except our show.
I'm going to shut ours off and investigate
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Post by FrozenPea on Jun 2, 2021 15:32:39 GMT
We have the Fire TV box with Alexa and I don't see this option on my Alexa app. I wonder if it is because of where I live.
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