The journey of Amazon has been a fascinating one so far. What started as a humble marketplace for new and old books is now a proven giant in a range of industries. While Amazon continues to have their supreme e-commerce platform as the face of the organization, they have slowly established a strong footing across sectors that are well integrated into the fabric of our daily lives. By dominating these sectors, Amazon, in a way, is dominating our lives, and the negatives of this might be about to unravel now. If you are always on the lookout for what’s happening in the tech world, then it won’t be news exactly for you to learn that Amazon now has a vast assortment of digital devices, an assortment that covers a wide range of purposes, thus reinforcing the point of Amazon monopolizing all our needs. As per a recently issued statement by the company, they’ll be turning all their devices into little cell towers. This will create a wireless network between all their devices; hence they’d be able to extend a helping hand for each other by bolstering bandwidth. To facilitate this creation of active network, Amazon has also announced that they have a new Wi-Fi protocol in the pipeline. This is the point where cracks begin to emerge in Amazon’s plan. As per the reports, there will be no beta test for this protocol and security experts have raised the alarm regarding it. The experts have strongly indicated that the lack of testing rounds can have major security implications for the user.
This initiative of Amazon was given the name of Amazon Sidewalk, and it’s not the first time that the name has made the headlines. The project was first announced in 2019 as a “new, long-term effort to greatly extend the working range of low-bandwidth, low-power, smart lights, sensors, and other low-cost devices customers install at the edge of their home network.”
Another uneasy detail of Amazon Sidewalk is that the devices will be automatically opted-in unless the owner provides a different piece of communication. With the deadline set as 8th June, device owners have less than a week to study this project and make a decision over whether they want to opt-out or not.