Where do you go when your smart home decides you’re not welcome?

Jackson soon discovered that Amazon suspended his account because a Black delivery driver who’d come to his house the previous day had reported hearing racist remarks from his video doorbell. In a brief email sent to Jackson at 3 a.m., the company explained how it unilaterally placed all of his linked devices and services on hold as it commenced an internal investigation.

The accusations baffled Jackson. He and his family are Black. When he reviewed the doorbell’s footage, he saw that nobody was home at the time of the delivery. At a loss for what could have prompted the accusation of racism, he suspected the driver had misinterpreted the doorbell’s automated response: “Excuse me, can I help you?”

  • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    91·
    1 year ago

    It’s a huge stretch to say you don’t own “anything” digital. But yeah, don’t buy any physical products from Amazon. Apple is next on the offenders list, and Google is also dangerous if you don’t know how to navigate it.

    • ChiefSinner@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I mean, if I buy a game on steam and valve goes belly up, how do I retain my games? Game companies were all too eager to stop selling physical discs for PC games and instead give you a code for you to redeem. And you can’t sell it after you play it like with console games, because it goes against most PC game companies’ terms of service (edit - …to sell your account)

      If you buy a security camera that is only available through the cloud and the company stops paying for the cloud service, all you have is a paper weight