Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

From the source article:

> I was not truly in the dark for a week. My smart home runs mostly locally and Alexa really is just a polymorphic interface. I was just able to use Siri. Though out of habit I’d sometimes say “alexa” only for her to remind me how stupid I was.

Dude spent a week without being able to talk to Alexa. The headline seems a bit overblown IMO.




Yeah, I thought he was literally locked out and how "smart locks" sound like a bad idea due to failure modes like this. Not that he couldn't use his smart nonsense.

Still, it is a good lesson on control.


It was not just that. Even if it was just that; Amazon has no right to disable an account or services unilaterally like that with little recourse from the user.


> Amazon has no right to disable an account or services unilaterally like that with little recourse from the user.

Yeah, that's literally the entire point of federated identity. If you give an identity provider the rights to your identity, they have the ability to grant or revoke privileges at will.

If you don't like that, do your part in promoting self sovereign identity standards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-sovereign_identity


>Amazon has no right to disable an account or services unilaterally like that with little recourse from the user.

Tell me you haven't read the TOS without telling me you haven't read the TOS.

Some Amazon employees certainly overreacted too quickly by disabling this guy's services, but Amazon certainly has the right to disable an account and discontinue service for any reason not expressly prohibited by law (and this isn't one of them).


Tell me you don't understand the difference between morality and legality without... you know the drill.

The post you're replying to was making a moral statement about what Amazon should and should not be allowed to do - not what they legally can do. The current world of "shoot first and ask questions never" on the Internet is not socially acceptable at the level of control and ownership that large tech companies have over you.

But then again, tech companies operate on one proposition, to wit: that there are certain parties that the ToS protects but does not bind, and that there are certain parties that the ToS binds but does not protect.


You're right; but I meant that in a colloquial manner. What I'm saying is services like these that are becoming as indispensable as utilities should have a system in place for lodging complaints and disputes and mechanisms to resolve them. The city cannot cut my water just because I yell epithets at the mayor, whether they agree or disagree. Now, sure, this is more of a civil matter but due to the importance of the services, they should have proper mechanisms in place for these kinds of things, otherwise, it's he said, she said and both customers and employees can willy nilly accuse each other of transgressions and have services suspended or employment terminated, etc., unfairly and without evidence in many cases.


But it generates angry clicks!




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: