I'm curious - is it an altruistic act to leave this functionality enabled? I'm all for making wifi access easier for people.
Before Sidewalk, if a device manufacturer wanted to be able to get sensor/environmental/etc data back to the mothership, it had to either pair to a phone with bluetooth, use wifi (needs creds), or include a 2g modem with a SIM (pretty expensive). A customer who doesn't see a need for that device to have that connection just won't pair / give wifi creds, and the 2g modems/SIMs are expensive enough to keep them out of most devices.
In a world where Sidewalk is a viable option, a lot more devices will be sending whatever information they like that they can sample about you out of your house. Sure, it makes sense to carefully read the privacy policy when you're buying a echo dot or ring whatever, but are you going to be so careful when you're buying a toaster?
This episode of black mirror sucks.
I would at least be interested in a way of finding out what sidewalk bridges are accessible from my location. Anybody know of a way? Is it just wifi?
Sidewalk uses LoRa and a 900Mhz other signal (for garage door openers). With an SDR that can use that spectrum, you could probably determine if there are sidewalk endpoints around. Might be able to foxhunt them to certain houses.
My plan is to do my best to avoid these devices (FCC IDs may be helpful here), and if I can't, then physically disable them from being able to communicate. Hopefully other folks do the same, and there will be information/a community online to help.
The rest of the world is up a creek, only the 'techno-elite' have the privilege of privacy and being tracking-free. It probably doesn't amount to much, though...
I'm now kind of interested to go look at the boxes for some of the devices I already own to get a feel for what's there. I expect it would probably all come down to a few BT / BLE / wifi chip manufacturers.
Maybe home builders in the future will offer an rf blocking option for all exterior walls
You've got an Alexa, your neighbor has a Ring. The network goes out on your neighbor's house. The Ring can then use your Alexa provided sidewalk network to send a notification to your neighbor about a package or whatever.
Someone makes Tile like product that can use Sidewalk to track its location. The sidewalk extends its range and accuracy.
Right now, it really appears to be just Ring devices that can make use of it.
This isn't a guest Wifi that arbitrary people can connect to... though as we saw with the Apple tags, people have quickly piggybacked other data on it.
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While I don't have any devices that extend the Sidewalk network, I've disabled it... just in case I do get one.
Amazon's business model isn't "sell your info" - its "sell you stuff."
The intentional deception would get them in much deeper trouble to the point that your "what ifs" would be something a company lawyer would stop rather quickly.