There are some very disturbing developments as far as Amazon is concerned. The company has made a name for itself with its online shopping platforms and quick deliveries of ordered items. However, its latest feature, Amazon Key, is more dubious than most. This new service allows couriers to unlock customers’ front doors to complete deliveries.
Amazon Key is a Major Privacy Concern
While one has to commend Amazon for its latest attempt to provide more convenient deliveries, this new service isn’t all that appealing. Giving couriers permission to open one’s front door and drop off parcels is not something anyone in their right mind would agree to. After all, couriers could enter your home without repercussions, which isn’t something anyone should be looking forward to whatsoever.
Amazon Key will not work automatically. Interested customers must first obtain a smart lock and the new Amazon Cloud Cam. This camera is the internet-connected hub which can connect to the smart lock over the Zigbee wireless protocol. When a courier shows up at one’s door, he or she scans and sends a barcode to Amazon’s cloud.
According to Amazon, its cloud will acknowledge the delivery and tell its camera to start recording. The courier will then receive an app notification to swipe the screen to unlock the front door. Everything will be filmed from start to finish, but that won’t necessarily put most consumers at ease. After all, people utilizing this and other Internet-connected devices relinquish control to their front doors. It gives Amazon a lot of power the company shouldn’t need to have in the first place.
As it happens, the security camera that’s required in order to use Amazon Key was built by Amazon itself. While the company has built up a solid reputation in the smart home appliance industry, this new venture will raise a lot of questions. The service will be sold as part of a bundle or in the form of a subscription service. A lot of relevant information is to be controlled by Amazon, which is always a big concern in this day and age of privacy invasion.
Consumers all over the world are already raising a lot of concerns over Amazon Key. That is only to be expected, as more and more people are becoming aware of the security issues associated with this concept in its current form. It certainly brings a whole new level of convenience to the table, but it also comes at great cost. Consumers aren’t exactly keen on monitoring their home around the clock, after all.
It will be interesting to see how this new venture plays out, though. People have demonstrated they are more than willing to give up some degree of privacy in favor of convenience. At the same time, there are only so many concessions people should be willing to make. Amazon has no plans to let third-party service providers make use of this service, which is somewhat of a relief. Still, there is plenty of reason for concern over this development, for obvious reasons.
