Amazon Tracking Its Users More Closely Than Ever?
Amazon has made upgrades to features like Astro which will now track users even more closely
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Last week Amazon held an invite-only event for the press to unveil a laundry list of products that will launch just in time for the holiday shopping season. The new high-tech gadgets thrill some customers. But others may be a little disconcerted by the news that the new products give the tech giant an increased ability to watch your every move.
The products unveiled during the press event included new technology and updates to existing items already on the market. Most notably, Astro received significant upgrades. It can now stream live footage of the home to owners when they are away and detect the face of any pets.
Additionally, owners can sign up for a video surveillance service for Astro. With the subscription, the robot can perform enhanced home monitoring. And it can ensure all windows and doors are closed.
Echo, which is one of Amazon’s most popular gadgets, also has new features on the way. The Echo Show 15 can now keep track of everyone in your family. Set it up to keep track of calendar updates, list off morning routines for everyone in the family, and provide you with traffic updates as you head out the door to work.
The most prominent new gadget on the market is Halo Rise. It is a sleep tracker that you do not have to wear. Simply leave it by your bedside, and Halo Rise will track the most minute details about your sleeping patterns.
All these items pump countless personal details about your life and habits straight to Amazon. But this is not a new phenomenon. Amazon has long gathered personal data on all its customers.
And they are not stopping at tracking you with their own products. Recently, the news broke about two companies Amazon is acquiring. They have agreed to purchase iRobot and One Medical.
iRobot (the company that produces Roomba vacuums) is in-line with Amazon’s standard list of tech products. But the acquisition of One Medical is different. It gives them direct access to an online membership-based healthcare marketplace, complete with the private health data of many Americans.
Many Americans still happily hand over their hard-earned money for the latest and greatest tech gadgets. And they do so despite the stark privacy concerns. After all, Amazon does not have a stellar track record for protecting its customers’ privacy rights.
CNN spoke with an analyst at ABI Research, Jonathan Collins, to get his thoughts on the trend. In his opinion, “By and large, negative consumer attitudes to data collection across smart home and other areas have largely been ameliorated by the services received in return. Even if not explicit, there is a tradeoff between lower priced or free services and the data sharing and collection that supports their availability.”
So while consumers are unhappy with the news that tech companies are collecting their data, they are ok with a certain amount of privacy invasion. This choice concerns some digital rights experts, who see Amazon’s slow creep into our homes as a problem. And while Amazon offers assurances they are taking steps to protect user data, its track record does not provide much comfort.
