Seattle based Amazon Devices Connects to Neighbours Wifi

Seattle-based Amazon is launching Sidewalk, a shared network that will connect Amazon-enabled smart devices. The sidewalk will be launched on June 8. The sidewalk is a low-bandwidth network that taps into a customer’s home WiFi to connect Alexa smart speakers, Ring security cameras, Tile location trackers, and other outdoor sensors.

Sidewalk works by having users of these products share a small portion of their bandwidth with other Amazon customers, enabling neighboring devices to connect at a long range. Seattle-based Amazon said that the network allows the users to locate lost keys or missing pets, set up and fix devices remotely, and work over longer distances.

The sidewalk is also built into AWS, Amazon’s cloud technology platform. This will allow software developers to create applications that take advantage of the technology. The company did not provide security details but did say Sidewalk cannot be used to spy on other Amazon users and that the network uses multiple layers of encryption to protect people’s privacy.

Many critics are raising concerns, stating that any network is potentially vulnerable to hacking and that the Seattle-based Amazon hasn’t sufficiently explained what customers can do with Sidewalk as it automatically enrolls all Amazon device users into the program. The sidewalk is enabled by default. Corey Quinn, the cloud economist at The Duckbill Group and author of a popular newsletter on AWS,  tweeted that How far I can trust Amazon continues to diminish.Users who wish to turn off Amazon Sidewalk can make the changes in the Alexa app. The user can select the menu option. Then dive into the settings option. In the setting option, users can find the Amazon sidewalk.