Amazon accidentally sent an email to its U.K customers which forced the tech giant to apologize. The email was about the new service which supposed to be only for U.S customers as the new service would be available in the U.S only.
The new Amazon service Sidewalkcan be accessed by certain Amazon-branded devices up to 500m (0.3 miles) away if the home wi-fi is out of reach or not working,
creating a neighborhood-wide network for local devices.
The company accidentally send the email to U.K customers as well, creating confusion.
Amazon spokeswoman apologized on the email error and clarify that the company recently began emailing customers with Echo devices registered in the US to give them more information about Amazon Sidewalk which will be available only in the U.S.
The sidewalk is an Amazon new service which was originally announced in 2019 which enable Amazon-branded security cameras and smart speakers can still function without a connection.
The new update will be in the form of a software update for the U.S. customers who own such devices such as Ring security camera and Amazon Echo. The new service will be available only to specific devices.
Sidewalk will use a small portion of internet bandwidth for the service. It can also extend the coverage for Sidewalk-enabled devices, such as Ring smart lights and pet and object trackers, so they can stay connected and continue to work over longer distances.
The Security researcher Kevin Beaumont said that the Sidewalk will have very limited access to other people’s broadband connections.
However, cyber-security expert from Surrey University Prof Alan Woodward criticized the Amazon Sidewalk’s security set-up and said that people should not be added to the network by default. He said that people should opt-in rather than opt-out of these things.
