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Missed a step in that opt-out how-to: 1. Install Alexa App on phone. Why can't I disable this 'account setting' from the Amazon web portal. Plus, if I mistrus

Missed a step in that opt-out how-to: 1. Install Alexa App on phone. Why can't I disable this 'account setting' from the Amazon web portal. Plus, if I mistrust Amazon's repurposing of devices, why would I want an Alexa app installed to potentially repurpose my phone? Funnily enough, Sidewalk was just one of 3 surprising anti-security/anti-privacy settings available only in the app.

aplorbust 5y ago
"Why would I want an Alexa app installed to potentially repurpose my phone?" You wouldn't. However if you were ambivalent and did not care one way or the other, or unaware of the change, then of course you would not bother to opt-out. This is no doubt Amazon's strategy. And when you opt-out you are forced to install an app that may well have worse consequences than Sidewalk. This strategy, so often used by "tech" companies, seems to take inspiration from direct mail.1 I have a well-educated friend who, many years ago, found himself working for a direct mail company early in his career. He did not stay long. The people he worked for sounded like dregs, and I think he had a crisis of conscience. Today, ethical standards seem to have fallen. Interesting how the word "hustle", as in "side hustle", has been repurposed by young people as something supposedly respectable. Usually that word implies some sort of con or other underhanded activity.2 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_mail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_mail 2. echo -e 'DEFINE all hustle\nQUIT\n'|nc -vvn 199.48.130.6 2628|tr -cd '\12\40-\176'|less
- pasabagi 5y ago
  > "side hustle", has been repurposed by young people as something supposedly respectable I think it's more redefined as something necessary, as the number of good jobs for young people have been on a continuous downward trend for decades all over the world.

aplorbust 5y ago

"Why would I want an Alexa app installed to potentially repurpose my phone?" You wouldn't. However if you were ambivalent and did not care one way or the other, or unaware of the change, then of course you would not bother to opt-out. This is no doubt Amazon's strategy. And when you opt-out you are forced to install an app that may well have worse consequences than Sidewalk. This strategy, so often used by "tech" companies, seems to take inspiration from direct mail.1 I have a well-educated friend who, many years ago, found himself working for a direct mail company early in his career. He did not stay long. The people he worked for sounded like dregs, and I think he had a crisis of conscience. Today, ethical standards seem to have fallen. Interesting how the word "hustle", as in "side hustle", has been repurposed by young people as something supposedly respectable. Usually that word implies some sort of con or other underhanded activity.2 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_mail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_mail 2. echo -e 'DEFINE all hustle\nQUIT\n'|nc -vvn 199.48.130.6 2628|tr -cd '\12\40-\176'|less

pasabagi 5y ago
> "side hustle", has been repurposed by young people as something supposedly respectable I think it's more redefined as something necessary, as the number of good jobs for young people have been on a continuous downward trend for decades all over the world.