Amazon wants to network its devices using your home internet

Starting Tuesday, your Amazon devices, along with everyone else’s in your neighborhood, will be able to connect to each other and the internet systems they use. The project is called Amazon Sidewalk. The company says this will help its products work more efficiently.

Amazon never asked users for their permission to open their home internet to outsiders, so it’s letting users opt-out, but they’ll have to do it before June 8.

INC tech columnist Jason Aten uses the analogy of someone trespassing into a yard and trimming the hedges there. “I'm really upset with you because you didn't ask and you're thinking, ‘But I made them look beautiful, this is a benefit to you.’ And I'm thinking, ‘We can't get past the point where you didn't ask. None of the benefits matter. You can't come into my yard and do this thing without asking.’”

He continues, “That's kind of what Amazon did, except for they didn't come in your yard. They came in your house.”