WHY WOULD THEY MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THIS?! ALexa for Landlords

[lil devils x]

So they made this " Alexa for Landlords" device that allows landlords to:

“makes it easy for property managers to set up and manage Alexa-powered smart home experiences throughout their buildings.”


Landlords can set special Alexa commands that will let their residents pay rent, submit maintenance requests, and manage other things that normally come with the territory of renting an apartment or other dwelling. And of course, it will still function as a regular smart speaker—dim the lights, get a weather report, all that jazz. Landlords can also remotely reset the device whenever someone moves out to give the device a clean slate for the next person.

Amazon claims in its press release that it’s taken the steps necessary to protect the privacy of residents. There’s just one issue that Amazon doesn’t address in its announcement: the Drop In feature on Amazon Echo devices.

Drop In allows one Echo user to connect to another Echo user’s device, as long as that user has granted them permission. They don’t even need to be in the same household. As long as both devices are connected to the internet, Drop In functions like a Zoom call. With this feature enabled, you will be able to hear anything within the range of the device, see anything on the other side, in the case of an Echo Show, and also transmit your voice or video feed to the other device.

Amazon's Alexa for Landlords Is a Privacy Nightmare Waiting to Happen

You know that clip of Steve Carell from The Office where he’s shouting “No, God! No, God, please no! No! No! Nooooooooo!” That’s how I feel about Amazon’s announcement that it’s adding a new service to Alexa for landlords. It’s called Alexa for Residential that, according to Amazon, “makes it...

gizmodo.com

Okay so we already have the problem of peeping tom landlords and landlords invading tenants privacy as it is, so they want to make this worse? WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS? We do not need more of this mess.

Peeping Tom Landlord Busted (!) After Cosmo Smoking Detector Cam Story

If you're renting, check your smoke alarms, everyone! Better safe than sorry.

www.cosmopolitan.com

“Peeping Tom” Landlord Sentenced to 4-10 Years

Landlord hid cameras in tenants’ light fixtures for sexual gratification, officials say.

www.nbcphiladelphia.com

 

[Iron]

You don't get privacy from a device that records you all the time to begin with!

 

[Specter Von Baren]

 

[Kae]

What was the catchphrase of the Cyberpunk genre?
High Tech Low Life I believe, except it's real life and discrimination isn't against AI's or Androids, it's just good old fashioned ethnic & skin colour based Racism.

Of course we're just in the prologue, things are bound to get worse...

 

[Specter Von Baren]

What was the catchphrase of the Cyberpunk genre?
High Tech Low Life I believe, except it's real life and racism isn't against AI's or Androids, it's just good old fashioned ethnic & skin colour based discrimination.

Of course we're just in the prologue, things are bound to get worse...

What? Racism? What does that have to do with this? This is just straight up leading to a police state with zero racism because EVERYONE is oppressed! Complete equality under big brother!

 

[Kae]

What? Racism? What does that have to do with this? This is just straight up leading to a police state with zero racism because EVERYONE is oppressed! Complete equality under big brother!

Just the scenario in general, like there's always discrimination in Cyberpunk, and it can't really be denied that racial tensions are stronger than they've been in decades, but everything checks out the wealth gets concentrated withing a group of a small few while most people are horribly poor, a pandemic of a hard to control illness, medical treatments only available to the wealthy, unchecked surveillance from both the capitalist class and the government towards the poor.
It's uncanny how much real life now is pretty much exactly like Cyberpunk works from the 70s & 80s.

 

[Shadyside]

Alexa, please evict the tenants.

 

[lil devils x]

Alexa, please evict the tenants.

Leave it up to Amazon to release Alexa for Landlords in the middle of an eviction crisis.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Leave it up to Amazon to release Alexa for Landlords in the middle of an eviction crisis.

I mean... if you're going to do it then now would be the time. "Man I don't want to have to deal with the crying and begging. Alexa!"

 

[Shadyside]

Leave it up to Amazon to release Alexa for Landlords in the middle of an eviction crisis.

So many companies and people are cashing in on this event. Disruptions create opportunity.

 

[Baffle]

Guys, being anti-Amazon isn't going to work until we actually stop buying stuff from them.

 

[MrCalavera]

What was the catchphrase of the Cyberpunk genre?
High Tech Low Life I believe, except it's real life and discrimination isn't against AI's or Androids, it's just good old fashioned ethnic & skin colour based Racism.

Of course we're just in the prologue, things are bound to get worse...

We've been in the "cyberpunk, but lamer" phase for quite long now. But until this year it was lacking in the "-punk" department.(and mysterious nu-plague trope)

 

[Xprimentyl]

Guys, being anti-Amazon isn't going to work until we actually stop buying stuff from them.

This was my post from the Escapist V1 Shower Thoughts thread:

"Amazon is basically the progenitor of the Borg. Think about it: Amazon assimilates everything, the working conditions within their facilities is not unlike that of the highly efficient, soulless bustle within a Borg cube, and seeing as when I simply thought about buying the Ocean's 11 trilogy on Blu-ray, it was a mere 14 seconds later before the package arrived, it's clear that it's Amazon's end goal to send "boxes" at impossible warp speeds throughout the universe. It's also clear that resistance is futile."

 

[lil devils x]

Guys, being anti-Amazon isn't going to work until we actually stop buying stuff from them.

I wish I could find alternatives but not being able to leave the house most of the time due to the Pandemic with a suppressed immune system makes that difficult when they are the only place to buy certain items online and have them arrive when I need them to. If I have months to wait for supplies I can order it from elsewhere, but most the time I only have a few days.

This was my post from the Escapist V1 Shower Thoughts thread:

"Amazon is basically the progenitor of the Borg. Think about it: Amazon assimilates everything, the working conditions within their facilities is not unlike that of the highly efficient, soulless bustle within a Borg cube, and seeing as when I simply thought about buying the Ocean's 11 trilogy on Blu-ray, it was a mere 14 seconds later before the package arrived, it's clear that it's Amazon's end goal to send "boxes" at impossible warp speeds throughout the universe. It's also clear that resistance is futile."

Yes. This. XD

 

[tippy2k2]

Alexa, please evict the tenants.

[EVICTION MODE ACTIVATED]

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Rent the apartment then smash the alexa on the first day. Landlord can replace it out of the cost of your security deposit when you move out.

They're going to pull whatever bullshit they can to keep that money anyway, might as well give them a reason to actually spend it.

 

[lil devils x]

Rent the apartment then smash the alexa on the first day. Landlord can replace it out of the cost of your security deposit when you move out.

They're going to pull whatever bullshit they can to keep that money anyway, might as well give them a reason to actually spend it.

This is why anytime you move into a new rental, you should do a thorough video walk through pointing out every inch in the apartment/ house you are renting. Walls, floors, inside cabinets, closets, windows, plumbing light fixtures, outlets.. everything. In addition, you make note of these in written form as well. You do the same after you have cleaned when you go to move out. That way you always get your deposits back.

 

[Baffle]

I wish I could find alternatives but not being able to leave the house most of the time due to the Pandemic with a suppressed immune system makes that difficult when they are the only place to buy certain items online and have them arrive when I need them to. If I have months to wait for supplies I can order it from elsewhere, but most the time I only have a few days.

Yes, it's similar here these days even when you can go out. We've left it so late to worry about Amazon's reach that it's already replaced most of the things it was going to on the high street. That was inevitable with the internet I guess, but still a shame in many ways.