So You Want a ‘Smart Home,’ Do You?

Okay–who out there did not know that this would happen? If that’s you, take your head out of that hole in the sand.

So the Amazon delivery guy, wearing headphones, thought he heard some forbidden remark from the customer’s “smart” doorbell; so he reported it to Amazon, they decided it was Racist… and shut down the whole shebang (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/amazon-shuts-down-customers-smart-home.2392704/).

Locked out. No lights. No air conditioning. No phone service. The poor devil was locked out of his home for a week! Because some delivery guy thought he heard something that mighta-coulda been Racist. Betrayed by a wonky doorbell and a delivery man too lazy to take off his earphones so he could hear things clearly.

Is the lesson here that Amazon can do anything to you that it pleases? Or just that having a “smart home” is really pretty stupid? It’s not a court of law, you know: they don’t have to prove their case, and you don’t get any opportunity to defend yourself. “That feller thought you said…” is enough to get your locked out of your home. You can’t appeal the decision.

Freedom, liberty–if the government isn’t lusting to take it away from you, many major corporations are.