What Did Amazon Do This Week? - 09-05-2021
AMAZON SIDEWALK NOW LEVER-AGES TILE
Sidewalk, what now? I hear several of you cry. Sidewalk is Amazon's new mesh network the company announced back in September 2019. The network utilizes Bluetooth and Amazon smart-home devices to create a series of mini mesh networks that allow your devices to stay connected further away from your router. Devices could even stay online (up to half a mile depending on different factors) if your Wi-Fi goes down. Be under no illusions, the Sidewalk network is already incredibly precise - just like Apple's AirTag's are at finding things. With around 1.6 billion active Apple devices that are part of the Find My network, you'd expect Apple to be able to find pretty much anything on the Earth. Sounds great, right? Yes and no. There are downsides.
Amazon is partnering with Tile, smart trackers like the Apple AirTags, and Level, smart locks, and a raft of others will no doubt follow over time. There are several good use cases for Sidewalk and networks like it (example: CareBand), but it is also important to avoid thinking this technology is issue-less and fluffy. There are some considerable privacy and data concerns.
The biggest issue? It's on by default. The WSJ dubbed this move' permissionless innovation', but a quote from Ben Wood from CCS Insight (in WSJ) caught my eye:
What we’re seeing now is the battle of the mesh networks, the use cases of these networks are limited only by customers’ imaginations.
Better connectivity options is no bad thing, but it would be naive to think these networks can’t (and won’t) be abused. The official announcment (which interestingly doesn’t mention anything about the controversy magnet, Ring) is here.
SO WHAT?
Just as one intrusion goes, another enters the fray. Is Amazon alone in this push? No. Is Amazon's reach substantial and, by proxy, dangerous? Almost certainly. The ability for just a few connected devices to map and infer information is scarily small. Like, one or two devices to blanket a city. The power this - and other ad hoc networks like it have is impressive and terrifying considering the history of privacy invasions and records of the companies being discussed. Sidewalk is encrypted and only accessible by the devices consumers choose, and data is automatically deleted every 24 hours to protect privacy. Amazon has released a security White Paper ahead of the inevitable 'rut-ro/be scared' press cycles. Aprapo of nothing, the opt-out for Sidewalk is buried four menu's deep…
Consumers are lazy; most won't turn this off, so it's almost inevitable this will impact every single reader's life whether you want to or not. Networks like this can be incredibly powerful for users and the companies that control them. Moves like this make Amazon incredibly powerful even if they never see one ounce of data as utility locks in users into ecosystems (case study: Apple).
THIS ISSUE OF WDADTW IS FREE THANKS TO…
Mouthwash is the new audio show from TBD Conference (sponsored by Shell) that promises ‘fresh chat that leaves you more confident. Live on Twitter Spaces Monday > Friday 7:30 pm GMT / 2:30 PM EST / 11:30am PST. Guests include NYT bestselling authors, Silicon Valley alumni, activists to creative luminaries and world-changers. Put the full line-up in your Google Calendar / iCal now.
Every time you listen in, a tree gets planted in your honour, thanks to Ecologi.
mouthwashshow.com
Amazon says its ad-supported streaming video content now reaches more than 120M users every month, up from 20M in January 2020, driven by Twitch. / CNBC
Amazon Studios - and other streamers - voiced concern over planned Hollywood Foreign Press Association changes. / Screendaily
Amazon is boycotting the Golden Globes after finding out there are no black journalists on the judging panel. / Screenrant
Amazon Prime will adapt ‘From Now’ podcast into a show. / Superherohype
Sony's Camila Cabello-Starring 'Cinderella' will bypass theatres and go straight to Amazon Prime. / Billboard
Westworld creators are working on a new horror series for Amazon. / Games Radar
Football team, Crystal Palace, will get a documentary on Amazon Prime. / Sport Business
Amazon partnered with tracker co, Tile, and smart lock co, Level, to enhance the Sidewalk mesh network (launching June 8). / CNBC
Amazon now offers mining in the cloud for new Chia cryptocurrency. / Coindesk
AWS Announces availability of Amazon DevOps Guru. / Amazon
AWS Announces general availability of Amazon FinSpace. / Amazon
Amazon is postponing Prime Day in India and Canada due to COVID outbreaks. / CNBC
Amazon has approved Pakastani Sellers. / The News
The trail for the contested Alabama union vote started this week. / Verge
Amazon announced an initative with the Italian government to investigate the positive impact of digital technologies. / Amazon
Amazon and Metz Métropole announce distribution centre and the creation of 1,000 permanent jobs within three years. / Amazon
A member of the Bessemer warehouse died after collapsing in the warehouse. / AL
Amazon is mailing letters to buyers to verify their addresses. / CNBC
Amazon is building a fulfilment centre in Savannah, Georgia. / AJ
Drivers say Amazon's US delivery companies are ordering them to turn off an app called Mentor that is designed to prevent accidents by monitoring speed. / VICE
Amazon had sales of €44B in Europe in 2020, but reported a €1.2B loss. / Guardian
Internal audit at Amazon warned execs in 2015 that 4,700 of its own sales staff had unauthorized access to third-party seller data, and some had misused it. / Politico
Jeff Bezos now sold $5 billion of Amazon stock before stepping down as CEO. / Insider / Bloomberg
Amazon is building a robotics centre in Shreveport, Louisiana. / KSLA
A Denver, Colorado employee has launched a case against Amazon, saying they were fired for raising pandemic concerns. / The Denver Channel
A new ‘last mile’ centre is planned for Nueces County, Texas. / KRIS TV
Amazon announced four new buildings in Canada (Langleys, Pitt Meadows, Delta, and Vancouver ). / Grand Forks Gazette
Ex-Amazon exec Jeff Blackburn leaves venture capital post after five weeks on the job. / Geekwire
These are the top products sold on Amazon in Q1. / Adweek
How Jeff Bezos beat the tabloids. / Bloomberg
Another fake review campaign was found on Amazon; this one exposed +200,000 people. / Multichannel Merchant
Insiders say Amazon puts underperforming employees on ambiguous 'coaching' plans with unrealistic goals and no clear path to get off of them. / Insider
Jeff Bezos’s early Amazon reviews were funny. / Insider
Why there’s no good reason for Amazon to split its stock. / Quartz
Amazon Advertising is unstoppable. / Hackernoon
A leaked Walmart memo highlights the daunting challenges facing the world’s largest retailer. / Vox
Walmart acquires telehealth provider MeMD. / RetailDive
