Amazon DOT setup?

[Qqmike]

Amazon's Echo Dot (4th Gen, 2020 release) | Smart speaker with Alexa.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XJ8C8F5...b-821acd4141fd

I see you set this up using your smartphone.
Has anyone set it up using only your Linux PC?
Work OK? Any problems doing it that way?

(I use only a flip phone, and do not want to have to use the smartphone that is in the house.)

[claydoh]

I don't have one of these remote listening devices, but I think many if not all can be set up via visiting https://alexa.amazon.com in a web browser, or https://echo.Amazon.com

[Qqmike]

Yes, those setups look promising. I couldn't find those upon first shot at this. WiFi settings on this computer ... going to be in the setup for my CenturyLink router. Geez, like DoYouKubuntu, my memory ... if you don't do this everyday! I think I can play with this now (I don't yet have the DOT, not real sure I want it except for fun and games -- actually the imer, some music, and quick word look-ups would be nice), but I better explore my router setup first. (Sorry, thinking out loud here ... ) Thanks!

[GreyGeek]

My son and daughter-in-law bought one for me for my 78th birthday. I hooked it into everything it would hook into, including Kubuntu, my Remedi Note 7 android smartphone (I miss that thing), our smart TVs and we even got a couple of those smart power plugs. From the bed: "Alexa, turn off the house lights" or, "Alexa, turn on (or off) the bedroom TV." or, "Alexa, cast the video I'm watching onto the bedroom TV". Neat stuff for a nerd like me.

About a month after we got it my wife and I were discussing getting an emergency rope ladder to throw down from the 2nd floor patio in case there is a fire and we can't get out via the steps down to the front door. We decided not to because both of us felt we were too old and weak to climb over the rail and down the rope steps. We forgot the matter. A few days later I started getting notices from Amazon about emergency ladders in both my email and on my ROKU TV. About that same time I saw an article on (I forget where) about a prosecutor serving a warrant to Amazon for access to the recordings they made of conversations that DOT picks up about the time the prosecutor believes the man murdered his wife.

I have no plans to murder my wife of 58 years nor do I want an eaves dropper listing in on our conversations.
I immediately pulled its plug and boxed it back up. For the last year and a half it has been setting in the hallway closet.

[Qqmike]

Yeah, right. An aspect that I'm not crazy about, for sure. You can disable the listening, the mic (if you trust what they say), but, even then, it requires your active intervention. A voice command would be nice, IF you could trust that: "Alexa, mind your own damn business!"

[dequire]

Just a heads up, as I heard this recently. It's not just Wi-Fi, it's recently been shown that low bandwidth and low power Bluetooth chips have been implanted in Amazon echo and ring products for the last few years. This will be turned on by default to make a Amazon Sidewalk - Welcome to the matrix!

Of course the security implications are astounding. They will also be rolling out products for your mailbox, ect. Amazon will of course know everything about you should you let it. Which again, will be enabled by default. Of course the pandemic is the perfect a scenario to be rolling this time since people are already giving up freedoms left and right. Just another brick in the wall, as they say.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/amazon-s...q-ble-900-mhz/

Personally, I would not touch any of these devices with a 1000' Pole. This month I will be unplugging my Google Chromecast and replacing it with the raspberry pi for running Plasma Big Screen and a few other open source projects.

[GreyGeek]

Yeah, right. An aspect that I'm not crazy about, for sure. You can disable the listening, the mic (if you trust what they say), but, even then, it requires your active intervention. A voice command would be nice, IF you could trust that: "Alexa, mind your own damn business!"

You want Alexa and Seri to hear your commands, but only your commands, not extraneous conversations. Supposedly, they ignore to your speech while awaiting for you to issue the command word, "Alexa!" or "Seri!", and then the algorithm is supposed to hear the following command and then ignore any further speech that does not begin with the command word. It is obvious that both Amazon and Google are listening to everything. What is not obvious is that they are also storing the recording everything they hear. The question is "How long?" Another thing that MOST people either don't realize, or never understood, is that people gave them permission to do that when they approved the ToS (by checking or click-through) when they signed up for the services.

The only sensible course of action is to not purchase those eaves dropping devices. In Google's case I downloaded all my Google data and then deleted my Google account, which also deleted my YT account, I then upgraded my /etc/hosts file to include google server addresses which my previous hosts file didn't block. On my samsung android phone I also deleted the Google App installer and replaced it with fdroid. Any app which then refused to run because it couldn't find my gmail address I uninstalled and replaced with a similar app from fdroid or some other foss sites.
My hosts file is from
http://sbc.io/hosts/alternates/faken...n-social/hosts

[GreyGeek]

Just a heads up, as I heard this recently. It's not just Wi-Fi, it's recently been shown that low bandwidth and low power Bluetooth chips have been implanted in Amazon echo and ring products for the last few years. This will be turned on by default to make a Amazon Sidewalk - Welcome to the matrix!

Of course the security implications are astounding. They will also be rolling out products for your mailbox, ect. Amazon will of course know everything about you should you let it. Which again, will be enabled by default. Of course the pandemic is the perfect a scenario to be rolling this time since people are already giving up freedoms left and right. Just another brick in the wall, as they say.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/amazon-s...q-ble-900-mhz/

Personally, I would not touch any of these devices with a 1000' Pole. This month I will be unplugging my Google Chromecast and replacing it with the raspberry pi for running Plasma Big Screen and a few other open source projects.

Wow! I hadn't heard of Amazon's Sidewalk!
I found its "landing page" here.

That page points out that the maximum bandwidth will be 80Kbs and it's capped at 500Mbs/mo.
"opting out" doesn't mean Sidewalk will stop using your device:

All of your Sidewalk Bridges will continue to have their original functionality even if you decide to disable Amazon Sidewalk

and

Sidewalk is designed with multiple layers of privacy and security to secure data traveling on the network and to keep customers safe and in control.

Translation: it will leak like a sieve and be easily hackable.

What are Sidewalk Bridges, and which devices are able to become Sidewalk Bridges?
Sidewalk Bridges are devices that provide connections to Amazon Sidewalk. Today, Sidewalk Bridges include many Echo devices and select Ring Floodlight and Spotlight Cams. A comprehensive list of Sidewalk devices includes: Ring Floodlight Cam (2019), Ring Spotlight Cam Wired (2019), Ring Spotlight Cam Mount (2019), Echo (2nd Gen), Echo (3rd Gen), Echo (4th Gen), Echo Dot (2nd Gen), Echo Dot (3rd Gen), Echo Dot (4th Gen), Echo Dot (2nd Gen) for Kids, Echo Dot (3rd Gen) for Kids, Echo Dot (4th Gen) for Kids, Echo Dot with Clock (3rd Gen), Echo Dot with Clock (4th Gen), Echo Plus (1st Gen), Echo Plus (2nd Gen), Echo Show (1st Gen), Echo Show (2nd Gen), Echo Show 5, Echo Show 8, Echo Show 10, Echo Spot, Echo Studio.
...
In fact, with the exception of the first Amazon Echo and the discontinued Echo Look selfie camera, just about every Echo device will work with Sidewalk.

What Amazon is doing (and probably others will do) is creating the ideal "mesh network" that many advocates of decentralized Internet have long worked for and, for the most part, failed to achieve. The most successful attempts used licensed high powered "bridge" routers to link to WiFi's running in bridge mode to connect to several PCs at a time. One in Pittsburgh had 1,500 connections but at least one of them had a connection to an ISP from which they were drawing all the content from. There were/are not enough content creators to sustain an interest in "browsing" those mesh networks. And, nodes were no faster than the link connecting that node to the mesh. Hardware for creating those mesh networks is still available but is expensive.

This led to ideas like the IPFS (InterPlanetaryFileSystem), FreeNet and other schemes that are protocols for peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system without the "man" being able to monitor or control. The approach is a pipe dream, of course, because all attempts so far are using the "man"'s servers.

A 900MHz (33cm) "radar" can resolve objects equal to 1/2 its wave length or larger, which is 16.5cm or 13.5". People average 15"-15" wide so with 3 or more BLE's positioned around your house the proper algorithm can be used to see an image of the inside of your house and where people are located inside it. That's even if you don't buy into Sidewalk but your neighbors do. The US military demonstrated that technology at least a decade ago, IIRC. The gov will know exactly where to place a .50 cal round to take you out if they don't like your politics.