Amazon Sidewalk is a new wireless mesh service that aims to boost the speed and connectivity of the retail giant’s Echo devices, Ring security cams, outdoor lights, motion sensors, and Tile trackers by having them share a small portion of their internet bandwidth and pooling them together to enable a stronger network. While many seem to believe that this is a bad idea in terms of security and personal privacy, Amazon intends to accelerate Sidewalk by automatically enrolling its devices into its mesh experiment beginning on June 8. Security-minded owners are being encouraged to opt out, but they only have 10 days to do it.
Amazon Sidewalk is a shared network that helps devices work better. Operated by Amazon at no charge to customers, Sidewalk can help simplify new device setup, extend the low-bandwidth working range of devices to help find pets or valuables with Tile trackers, and help devices stay online even if they are outside the range of their home wifi. In the future, Sidewalk will support a range of experiences from using Sidewalk-enabled devices, such as smart security and lighting and diagnostics for appliances and tools.
Sources: Amazon, Ars Technica