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Amazon accuses customer of racism & shuts down their smart home!
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tszaboo:

--- Quote from: MK14 on June 12, 2023, 11:24:38 pm ---I have a degree of sympathy for Amazon.

There was a potentially fairly serious incident (big enough to get an Amazon customer, banned from using Amazon services), being reported.  So, they rightly informed the customer, investigated it and after a reasonable period of time took reasonable actions to reactivate the customers account.

--- End quote ---
What if it was a racist remark? Is it illegal to make a racist remark in the USA?
What if you make a sexist remark to your wife as a joke, and you both laugh about it, but Alexa is there to listen to you.
What if you tell your delivery guy to shove the package where the sun doesn't shine because he stepped in the flower garden that you worked on for hours.
None of these things are illegal, and all of these things are happening on your property. Why do we let corporations dictate us what is moral and what is not?
I reserve my right to be rude to people, and I don't want corporations to 1984 me with crimestop and thought police.
james_s:

--- Quote from: thm_w on June 12, 2023, 11:10:18 pm ---Keep the political opinion garbage to the Dilbert thread please. We don't need more of that here.


--- Quote from: james_s on June 12, 2023, 09:53:31 pm ---The delivery driver isn't the problem here, maybe he really did think he heard a racist comment. The issue is in the way Amazon handled it, guilty until proven innocent. If they were going to do anything, they should have investigated first, and taken action only once it is PROVEN that the customer committed some kind of offense that is in breach of contract and even then unless it was an actual credible threat or act of violence then the only action should be a warning. There's an old saying "the customer is always right" that companies seem to be forgetting about.

--- End quote ---

I agree its clearly poorly handled. But "customer is always right" mentality has resulted in the whole Karen phenomenon. Customer can be wrong, and they can be let go or banned.
Amazon is free to drop whoever they want if they have a legit reason to do so.
Alexa service is free, but you could argue they should refund the hardware cost of the device.


--- Quote from: james_s on June 12, 2023, 09:12:42 pm ---The irony is all the lip service Amazon gives about being "customer obsessed". I hope he sues them over this, and contacts all the local news media with his story.

--- End quote ---

What would you possibly sue for?
OK heres your $40 back for Alexa.

--- End quote ---

What did I say that was political? I was trying to step around any of that.

I don't know, I'm not a lawyer. Breech of contract? Defamation? Inconvenience and loss of services? He was essentially accused of racism which in today's world is a very serious charge. At the very least this should be all over the news. Also it sounds like he was likely a lot more heavily invested than a $40 Echo device, he could easily have hundreds or even thousands of dollars invested. Amazon owns Ring and iRobot among others, the latest Roombas are pushing up on $1,000.
Zero999:

--- Quote from: TimFox on June 14, 2023, 08:19:10 pm ---The spelling varies depending on whether you're using UK or US English: In UK English, “behaviour” (with a “u”) is standard. In US English, “behavior” (with no “u”) is the correct spelling.

--- End quote ---
You can't blame people for just Googling Amazon ToS, getting information relevant to their jurisdiction and not noticing the spellings appear to be "normal" to them. What do the US terms of service say?
TimFox:

--- Quote from: Zero999 on June 14, 2023, 08:38:39 pm ---
--- Quote from: TimFox on June 14, 2023, 08:19:10 pm ---The spelling varies depending on whether you're using UK or US English: In UK English, “behaviour” (with a “u”) is standard. In US English, “behavior” (with no “u”) is the correct spelling.

--- End quote ---
You can't blame people for just Googling Amazon ToS, getting information relevant to their jurisdiction and not noticing the spellings appear to be "normal" to them. What do the US terms of service say?

--- End quote ---

That was my question.
james_s:

--- Quote from: John B on June 14, 2023, 01:44:05 am ---There's also no technical reason why amazon or any other company cannot create a device that functions independently and cannot be remotely rendered useless like this. It is a choice that they all made.

--- End quote ---

To a point I agree, however I don't think the Echo devices would be very useful at all if they were completely local, and even if just the most basic functionality was available locally it would almost certainly increase the price and power consumption of the hardware, especially in the early days when it was first put on the market.

I do take issue with the fact that it cannot even be used as a basic bluetooth speaker without being online and paired to an account though, but obviously those of us that care at all about local vs "cloud" are a tiny minority. Now one thing that does really annoy me is what they have done with the Roomba vacuums, I have older models that are totally standalone and work wonderfully. The latest models require an app and online connectivity to set them up, that's just stupid. The older arrangement with an onboard clock and timer was perfectly fine.
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