Is Amazon Sidewalk a security and privacy risk that's not worth taking?

If you've heard about Amazon Sidewalk in this past week, it's
probably through an article that explains how you should opt out
of the new feature that goes live on June 8. "Amazon plans to
share your internet with neighbours" proclaims one headline. But
what is Amazon Sidewalk? And why did Amazon think it was a good
idea to have owners of Amazon Echos and Ring cameras
automatically enrolled?


Amazon Sidewalk is a mesh network. It turns some of the connected
devices you already own into a network gateway. Now it's not a
Wi-Fi gateway. It's using the 900 Mhz frequency range, which we
call the LoRa network. T


Why would it do this? Well Amazon wants to enable more features
for those connected devices around your home and out in your
yard. Yes, maybe even out on the Sidewalk. It wants to help you
track down your lost items that have a connected Tile device on
them. It could even help you find a lost pet, or maybe even a
person with dementia that's in your care. You could also use it
to control your devices at home, even when your internet service
is disconnected.


The security and privacy concerns are real. But the big picture
is a bit more complicated than what some of these articles might
have you believe. To work through it all, I have two guests with
me today on Tech Insights. We are joined by friend of the show
Alexandre Blanc. He's a cyber security expert and a virtual CISO
for hire We are also joined by Info-Tech security analyst Isaac
Kinsella.