I think stoon is being used as an intensifier in the headline.
1 Like
As of 4:38 MDT, the headline sill says so.
3 Likes
this is the same way that Apple uses users iPhone internet to find lost iTiles.
Of course, in China, Apple always know where you are, no iTile needed.
1 Like
That’s the problem, you have to be aware of it. And Joe-Average-Consumer isn’t IT savvy enough to be aware of things like this
3 Likes
poppy need a new video … delete your amazon
hey y’all can we cancel amazon now? where the cancel culture at?
2 Likes
oh my oh my oh my … the problem - they want to share the internet with strangers because it’s the best way to figure out who was in neighborhood, when, and probably also why. good data to be had in them wifi zones. you can measure how fat a person is, get a full 3d scan and heatmap of them. you can get an exact location - as in programmatically or measurably accurate. get a good enough connection to the device and you can give it a cookie or two, latch on forever. another fun one is the wifi lip reading and this new live indoor maps tool that’s been going around. You could even train an ai to delete the garbage data, and keep just the juicy bits.
psa: wired internet is probably better for your health
1 Like
Ahm soa stooned…
4 Likes
Same. Very same.
2 Likes
…and hopefully opt-out actually works or plays…
this guy put everything together or so he says…
Lavazza is selling a new Alexa-operated coffee machine @ 249 EUR
Now if I want a coffe machine, for that price or a bit more I could find an automatic machine that isn’t an Amazon listenig device and runs with coffee beans that are way cheaper than proprietary coffee pods
And they have user memories to get the perfect setup.
2 Likes
This is my understanding of what you give/get.
This creates a low bandwidth (80 kps) time-slice bridge mode network that can support IOT connections. Uses include extending your home network distance a smidge farther from you router, faster setup of IOT on the local network, and locating stuff. By joining your bridge network to the public one, you get access to other bridge networks.
In theory, this sounds intriguing. But the opt out, “Pray I don’t alter it any further” agreement, and the proprietary nature make me nope right out. We don’t use Alexa, but I need to check my wife’s fire tablet.
If this were an opt in feature with WiFi standards backing, it could be less suspect. Plenty of routers already have guest features. It it were an even more highly segregated guest pipeline I could turn on at my discretion to gain benefits and share with the data afflicted, then I might consider it (and still likely leave it off). Until then, nope nope nope.
4 Likes
One of the reasons I insist on buying my own and not leasing from Cox.
1 Like
I didn’t enable Alexa when I got my Kindle. Just checked - it’s still off - as is FindIt, so I think I’m OK.
1 Like
That’s all good until someone uses it for kiddie porn.
Or uses it to spy on someone’s kids.
I remember a few years back there was that dude on a boat with a can-tenna jacking wifi doing basically that, and he finally got caught, but the network subscriber had to as LOT of work to prove that he wasn’t consuming the tainted packets.
1 Like
It’s ridiculous that they’re even allowed to make this an opt-out change. Something this significant should always be opt-in. If opt-in reduces the viability of the “service” then it’s garbage anyway.
1 Like
Man alive, I’m never getting on of those wretched things. I wasn’t going to before, but this pretty much clinches that which hath already been clinched.
2 Likes
Here in the U.K. BT used to do something similar, it was called Fon, and it allowed customers to piggy-back on other peoples wifi networks. It was rubbish, whenever I tried to use the system it showed decent signal strength, but proved impossible to actually log in and use the Internet.
Their wifi has improved significantly since then, so I think it’s been quietly dropped.
The shared bandwidth does not come out of yours. It’s also completely separate from your own network; hacking your LAN from the public wifi is essentially impossible.
Remember, folks, that your cable/fiber connection has WAY more bandwidth capacity than they generally are willing to sell to you, as an individual. Properly done, this will not lag your own internet in any way. It could, however, be problematic for slower and/or metered connections; it won’t come out of your own quota but there may not be enough bandwidth “room” for the public portion.
I am rather un-fond of Alexa, et al., and I never will buy a “smart speaker” (hell, I even pith Cortana) but fussing over this feature is rather silly.
From the sounds of it, there probably isn’t anything sinister about their aims; it’s just about making their devices easier to set up, which saves them money on tech support and (like with Apple’s airtags) gives them an advantage over competitors who don’t have a large base of existing devices to leverage this way.
Unless it’s done in a shockingly incompetent way, it won’t make your own wifi traffic any less secure than it already is, or let strangers slow down your own internet connection. And it won’t give them more ways to spy on people than they already have. Basically, one internet connection is exactly the same as any other, except with regard to who pays the bill. In fact, if it weren’t for that, there would never have been much reason for wifi to have this idea of separate networks in the first place.
As others have said, the problem is just that it sows mistrust and confusion to have Amazon doing it. Apart from anything else, experience shows that half-baked, proprietary “easy setup” schemes often make it more confusing to set things up, unless you have the one specific set of circumstances the vendor bothered to imagine.
5 Likes
