George Orwell was correct, just off by a few decades. Perhaps 2024 or 2034 instead of 1984.

I will not allow any devices of that nature in my home. I do have a Ring doorbell but that was purchased before Amazon took over Ring, and I wasn't happy about that.

I will say that I find Amazon's shutting down of this person's entire system because of a perceived slight is not only a serious overstep but likely criminal. What right do they have to take action this drastic immediately? This would be akin to arriving at a scene, arresting and booking the suspect in jail then returning to see if anything wrong had actually happened.

This statement from Amazon "Amazon told DailyMail.com in a statement: 'We work hard to provide customers with a great experience while also ensuring drivers who deliver Amazon packages feel safe. In this case, we learned through our investigation that the customer did not act inappropriately, and we’re working directly with the customer to resolve their concerns while also looking at ways to prevent a similar situation from happening again.' " is absolute crap.

Taking that drastic action did absolutely NOTHING to protect their driver.. NOTHING!!!!

You certainly did the exact opposite of creating a great experience.

Reason number 1,243 why I still have never bought anything from Amazon.

Obviously there is something in the operating agreement that gives them the authority to do this . You know , that three page double sided document that you agree to when you subscribe to this junk .

quote:

Originally posted by rwilli:
They all have the ability to listen, track your location and respond to your various activities whether you are aware of it or not.

Au contraire. My Lutron Caséta lighting automation has no microphones or GPS receivers. (Well, at least not TTBOMK.) I suppose they could be tracking what time various lights are controlled. Don't know what the point would be to that.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
As an example, when my xmas lights were up, they came on at dusk and stayed on until midnight. Then the xmas lights went out and my regular front outside lighting came on and stayed on until dawn.

I did something similar using a Lutron Caséta outside switch. Only I have ours programmed to come on at dusk, go off at 01:00, come on again at 05:00, and off again at dawn.

(I like to turn 'em on in the morning to add a bit of cheer for people who still work for a living and have to be up at those hours.)

Another advantage is, if it gets really dark due to a heavy snowstorm, I can easily turn 'em on from my phone or tablet.

quote:

Lutron Caséta l

I'm going to look into that, it's nice to be able to say Alexa turn on the x light but I could live with her moving out....

My house is pretty dumb (so is my cell phone). I do have a few hardware timers that control some lights, and my Christmas lights use timers that also detect when it's dark. Does the remote for my TV count? My computer does not have a microphone or a camera. My thermostat is a round dumb one, too. I'm just an 85-year-old troglodyte.

flashguy

It's not the government that will be the thought police but the corporations.
Time to make Amazon go insolvent.

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
It's not the government that will be the thought police but the corporations.
Time to make Amazon go insolvent.

Well, given recent years (Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc), I'd say that it is both, in cahoots together with the media, The Trifecta.

Notice Amazon didn’t address what they did to the home owner. They only repeated their policy. No review of whether it’s appropriate to cancel a person’s home life justified or not. That kind of control is abusive. I continue to believe that anything labeled ’smart’ is actually not smart. No automation convenience is worth the lost control

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
It's not the government that will be the thought police but the corporations.
Time to make Amazon go insolvent.

Stories like this are laying the ground work for the social credit system that's coming down the road after the rollout of government backed digital currency. It gets people used to the idea that you could loose your job, be denied services, etc. if you speak out against the narrative. It hasn't been that long ago that everyone here would have been shocked at Amazon's actions. Today, none of us are surprised because stories like this have become common. What we're seeing is a partnership between government, media and big business to normalize the punishment of anyone who doesn't conform.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

Lutron Caséta l

I'm going to look into that, it's nice to be able to say Alexa turn on the x light but I could live with her moving out....

It's relatively spendy, but, it works very well.

They do have (optional) integration with Apple HomeKit, thus Siri. (I used that for a while--until I became annoyed with Apple and divested of everything Apple I/we didn't need. Neither HomeKit not Siri were needs.) I don't know if they integrate with either Amazon or Google automation.

Read/listen to the dystopian novel Oryx and Crake. It is many years old and is prophetic to how big business slowly becoming what runs the world as opposed to governments.

Of particular interest in the storyline is the concept of keeping people sick while “treating” them for the illnesses they created in secret. Curative measures don’t actually cure, but keep people tied to treatments until they are financially bled dry and eventually become insolvent and die. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

I don't understand the joy of using a device to control things in the house. I can walk to the oven to turn it on. I can use a light switch, or, if desired a motion detector can be installed.

A purely internal network would be akin to extended range of the remote control, so that could be handy. But why in the world connect it to an outside system?

The only thing on the internet is our Ring security camera system for when we travel. And I dislike that Amazon owns Ring.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
I don't understand the joy of using a device to control things in the house. I can walk to the oven to turn it on. I can use a light switch, or, if desired a motion detector can be installed.

A purely internal network would be akin to extended range of the remote control, so that could be handy. But why in the world connect it to an outside system?

The only thing on the internet is our Ring security camera system for when we travel. And I dislike that Amazon owns Ring.

I believe that they appeal to two different traits in people to do this.

1) Basic laziness. They put everything at your fingertips so you can sit in your easy chair and control every thing from your phone.

2) The desire to have the latest, greatest, coolest thing whether you need it or not so you can show everyone how awesome you are. These are the same people back in the 80's that would buy the stereo with 88 different sliders, buttons, knobs and dials and have NO idea what any of them really did. But it was better than yours!

Most fail to realize that everyone of these 'smart' device is a security weakness that can be used to penetrate your system and hack your devices.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
The extent of my home smartness is a Nest thermostat....which never worked like it was supposed to and actually ran the heat way up when I wasn't even home for days. I found a hack online and turned it into a "regular" thermostat. Best move I made.

Isn’t the “hack” just turning the “ECO” mode OFF?

I hope the home owner is willing and able to sue the daylights out of Amazon for turning his home off.
What if he had a disabled person living there that was depending on on all that remote control crap?

quote:

Originally posted by gjgalligan:
I hope the home owner is willing and able to sue the daylights out of Amazon for turning his home off.

No, he just needs to come to his Goddamn senses and unhook all of that unnecessary crap and throw it in the trash.

Something just doesn't smell right about the article posted by the OP.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
I don't understand the joy of using a device to control things in the house. I can walk to the oven to turn it on. I can use a light switch, or, if desired a motion detector can be installed.

A purely internal network would be akin to extended range of the remote control, so that could be handy. But why in the world connect it to an outside system?

The only thing on the internet is our Ring security camera system for when we travel. And I dislike that Amazon owns Ring.

I believe that they appeal to two different traits in people to do this.

1) Basic laziness. They put everything at your fingertips so you can sit in your easy chair and control every thing from your phone.

2) The desire to have the latest, greatest, coolest thing whether you need it or not so you can show everyone how awesome you are. These are the same people back in the 80's that would buy the stereo with 88 different sliders, buttons, knobs and dials and have NO idea what any of them really did. But it was better than yours!

Most fail to realize that everyone of these 'smart' device is a security weakness that can be used to penetrate your system and hack your devices.

3) Or to help the elderly or handicapped, it can be used to turn on and off lights either inside or out, monitoring AC/Heat temps, reminders to take pills or to get up out of a chair and move around. All of these things are helping my 85 year old dad with some basic assistance for small things since he lives alone after mom passed two years ago. He also likes listening to music and uses Alexa to play his favorites from times gone by, things you can't get on modern radio, we can also video drop in calls and check on him.

There area good things you can do with some home tech, convenience, accessibility.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:

quote:

Originally posted by gjgalligan:
I hope the home owner is willing and able to sue the daylights out of Amazon for turning his home off.

No, he just needs to come to his Goddamn senses and unhook all of that unnecessary crap and throw it in the trash.

I'm not a fan of lawyers in general either but how can Amazon even do this without violating their privacy?
What's next? Cancelling their account if the doorbell answers "Welcome to Maga Country" or something else they don't like?
But yes anyone who partakes with their control needs to be aware of their madness.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Next time read the fine print in your contract .Giving these jackasses that kind of control over your personal property is insane .

That's pretty much a waste of time. I have tried to find and read the fine print in the license agreements for Amazon's products.

First: You have to find the agreement on their website.

Second: The agreement references (and incorporates) other agreements that are located elsewhere on their website.

Third: Even if you find all the other applicable agreements, polices, terms of use, etc., it doesn't matter because Amazon can change those terms at any time without notice ("We may amend any of this Agreement's terms at our sole discretion by posting the revised terms on the Amazon.com website. Your continued use of [________] after the effective date of the revised Agreement constitutes your acceptance of the terms.")