Amazon knew exactly what they were doing… they’re just scrambling because they got caught and underestimated the public backlash from their actions. They made a calculated decision, and calculated wrong.
Every tech savy person I know is working up plans to rip these things out and go with solutions that have more rigorous privacy controls. For example the UniFi setups keep all your data on prem so you can avoid these scenarios where some company decides “maybe users won’t mind if we just start using the data for something else” games.
The fact that the backlash comes after spending millions on a Superbowl advert to promote the offending tech and use case is a pretty epic “own goal” by Amazon.
I have security cameras, and have always voluntarily shared footage with relevant authorities when there was a valid need, but that’s a decision for me to make, not some corporation.
Every tech savy person I know is working up plans to rip these things out and go with solutions that have more rigorous privacy controls. For example the UniFi setups keep all your data on prem so you can avoid these scenarios where some company decides “maybe users won’t mind if we just start using the data for something else” games.
The fact that the backlash comes after spending millions on a Superbowl advert to promote the offending tech and use case is a pretty epic “own goal” by Amazon.
I have security cameras, and have always voluntarily shared footage with relevant authorities when there was a valid need, but that’s a decision for me to make, not some corporation.