VaughanJB
Scrappy VIP
You might be if you own a Ring Video Doorbell, or an Amazon Echo.device.
What is Amazon Sidewalk? Sidewalk is essentially a public method to offer internet access to devices. To put it crudely, they are devices that are listening for requests. These requests may come from anyone within (they claim) half a mile of the connecting device. These end points are called "Bridges".
Now, this chain of Bridges gives Amazon a network that stretches across the nation (in the US it is estimated than 80% of people have Sidewalk connectivity available to them).
Now, not just anyone can connect. To connect, you need a Sidewalk enabled device. These are essentially licensed via a partner program by Amazon. One of the devices with this is, you guessed it, Ring Doorbells. These operate as both Bridges and enabled devices. The generally idea is, if the internet connection to a house is down, the device will simply seek a connection via another Sidewalk bridge. This also happens while you're on the move. Amazon are using this for it's tracking tags, for example.
So does this mean strangers and strange devices might be using some of your internet connection? Yep. Which begs the question, what if you don't want to participate in this system? The answer to this, as far as I know, is that you disable Sidewalk participation in settings on these devices. However, I wonder how many people even know the setting is there, and what it does.
What is Amazon Sidewalk? Sidewalk is essentially a public method to offer internet access to devices. To put it crudely, they are devices that are listening for requests. These requests may come from anyone within (they claim) half a mile of the connecting device. These end points are called "Bridges".
Now, this chain of Bridges gives Amazon a network that stretches across the nation (in the US it is estimated than 80% of people have Sidewalk connectivity available to them).
Now, not just anyone can connect. To connect, you need a Sidewalk enabled device. These are essentially licensed via a partner program by Amazon. One of the devices with this is, you guessed it, Ring Doorbells. These operate as both Bridges and enabled devices. The generally idea is, if the internet connection to a house is down, the device will simply seek a connection via another Sidewalk bridge. This also happens while you're on the move. Amazon are using this for it's tracking tags, for example.
So does this mean strangers and strange devices might be using some of your internet connection? Yep. Which begs the question, what if you don't want to participate in this system? The answer to this, as far as I know, is that you disable Sidewalk participation in settings on these devices. However, I wonder how many people even know the setting is there, and what it does.
