Amazon Calls Man ‘Racist’ – Shuts Off his Smart Home
In a world where technology pervades our lives, the question of who holds control over our devices has become increasingly pressing. Recent events surrounding Amazon’s punitive actions against an innocent homeowner have ignited a debate on the company’s moral authority and its ability to wield power over our smart homes.
The incident, triggered by a delivery driver’s misunderstanding, led to a week-long suspension of the homeowner’s entire smart home system. As we delve into this tale of unwanted disruption, we confront the fundamental question: Does Amazon have the right to shut down your smart devices based on its opinion of your behavior?
Brandon Jackson, a user of Amazon’s extensive smart home ecosystem, found himself thrust into a perplexing situation. His Amazon account was abruptly suspended, leaving his Amazon Echo devices unresponsive and rendering his smart home system useless.
The cause? A delivery driver’s claim that Jackson had used a racial slur through his automated doorbell system. Jackson possessed video evidence that contradicted the accusation—the communication to the worker had been a benign, automated greeting: “Excuse me, can I help you?”
As society becomes increasingly dependent on technology giants for critical services, the vulnerability of individuals and communities grows. Consider the ramifications of having credit cards abruptly cut off or transportation means being taken away without just cause by companies like Amazon, unelected authorities, whose political or religious stances are opposed to yours. In an interconnected world where financial transactions, mobility, and communication are intricately tied to digital platforms, sudden disruptions in these areas can have far-reaching implications, destabilizing lives and causing chaos.
The incident prompted Jackson to reassess his reliance on Amazon’s services and advocate for improved customer service and a more sophisticated approach to incident management. The incident served as a rallying cry for users who seek to challenge the moral authority of tech giants like Amazon, urging them to adopt a more customer-focused approach to problem-solving and conflict resolution.
As technology infiltrates deeper into our lives, we stand at a precipice where the consequences of surrendering control to corporations and their ability to punish us for seeming misbehaviors become increasingly apparent. The incident involving Amazon’s suspension of a homeowner’s smart home system serves as a stark reminder of the potential dangers lurking beneath the surface.
The thought of larger parts of our lives, such as electricity, water, credit cards, transportation means, or telephone services, being subject to arbitrary suspension by wokesters, political fanatics or religious fanatics within those companies sends shivers down our spines. China is already using an Orwellian “social credit” system, that can lock you out of transportation and other services if they thing you behave unacceptably. Do we want that in America?
https://medium.com/@bjax_/a-tale-of-unwanted-disruption-my-week-without-amazon-df1074e3818b
George Orwell’s 1984 on steroids.
Keep it stupid simple folks. There can be no doubt that technology is and will be used to control and degrade your independence.
Do not put yourself in that position. Stick to the “old school” methods to protect your sovereignty.
And give up the ability to modify any of my five thermostats without moving? Or when away from home? Or use any of the ten cameras I have located all over the place? Or modify the security system? Keep your old school, I like modern. Usually when there are web issues, I can override manually.
Worst was when google bought nest and service was hard to find as call centers, etc. changed. Then get a server failure that tanks the east coast, little web support, and you are off to the races. Not to mention a 10-minute restart which tasks the impatient not to press buttons like crazy.
Now, with decent support, web-server tracking even for PBP, and experience with manual overrides, it’s all OK. Even if they cut my service for being woke, I will survive. But the first time was a few anxious moments. Apparently those caveats are not in the brochure….. Redundancy in some things, alternatives in others, resiliency throughout!!!
Anyone know what happened to the delivery driver that started this whole mess?
“Excuse me, can I help you? … I can’t think of ONE racial slur that can be mistaken from that.
Yet one more reason to not be connected to everything. I’m borderline on tech – just started when I was in college.
Didn’t learn to depend on it, and not going to start anytime soon – if ever. Besides myself, the smartest thing I have is my phone.
I still have not read anywhere what the accuser thought he heard.
Bottom line here is I hope there are punitive damages.
I agree, punitive damages because he was forced to go off alexa and use siri; that ought be to big bucks…….
I agree that “you people” should avoid modern interconnected services whenever possible to maintain your liberty. Smart homes, smart phones, smart cars, —- don’t get any of them. Dangerous to liberty.
Myself, I will just continue being smart, and smarter with alternatives, contingencies, and backup plans for a service failure, almost like like I had before I had “smart.” Things break and the higher the technology, the more “interesting” the breakage. Just make sure you have a backup just like you have a generator……