Brandon Jackson recently found himself in the midst of a problem. On May 25, he discovered that his smart home, which is tied to Amazon, was no longer doing what he was paying for it to do. In a piece on Medium, Jackson noted that his primary way of interfacing with all of this wondrous technology is through Amazon Echo via Alexa. And lo and behold, suddenly, nothing would respond to his requests or commands.
At first, Jackson thought he had possibly been hacked. But he goes to great lengths to keep his passwords secure. So with security issues off the table, what could it have been? The answer is stranger than you think. Or maybe it is part and parcel of 21st-century America, and should serve as a lesson for those who are so enamored of having a “House of the Future.”
On May 24, a package was delivered to Jackson’s home. His doorbell camera was programmed to say, “Excuse me, can I help you?” For one reason or another, the driver, who was walking away from the door and wearing headphones, decided that the doorbell camera had somehow uttered a racial slur. The driver filed a complaint and…lights out, so to speak.
It took a week, but Jackson was eventually able to gain access to his devices once again. He wrote:
Through sharing my experience, I hope to encourage Amazon to reform and rethink their approach to handling such situations in the future. It’s essential for customers to feel confident in the security and reliability of their services, especially when those services are integral to the functionality of their homes. It’s time for Amazon to take a more customer-focused approach to problem-solving and conflict resolution.
The problem, however, is not with Amazon’s customer service. Well, it is in that any large company can be painfully slow in reacting to a customer’s needs or any problems with products. But the issue is with the Almighty Algorithm (blessed be its name) that did exactly what it was supposed to do. It received an accusation of racism and doled out what it deemed to be the appropriate punishment. One risks this when one turns one’s life over to a corporation. One wrong move and it all goes away with a flip of a switch. If that. Note that Jackson did not make a racist remark. He only needed to be accused of one to have his life turned off.
Related: Race Hate Is Official Government Policy
Many of us, not all but many, watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. On the Enterprise-D, one needed only say “Computer” and make a request for a map to the planet Vulcan, a gin and tonic, or a Duncan yo-yo or something. The ship’s computer never refused a request because someone’s politics were suspect. But when you are at the mercy of not only algorithms but the people who write them, you never know when your coffee maker will stop working until you apologize for your privilege.
It is tempting to take a hammer to everything in one’s house with a microchip or is smart-enabled. But unless you truly are Jeremiah Johnson, the Almighty Algorithm is not easy to avoid. Take, for example, the story of a man who was staying overnight in Greenwich, London. The man wanted a bite to eat. He stopped at an Aldi Shop & Go, only to discover that he could not make a purchase without the Aldi app.
Via the Express:
Ffs… So I’m in London overnight, and I’m trying to buy some food. I drop into the local Aldi’s, only to be told that in order to enter the store I have to download an app and scan a QR code.
As Blondie once said, one way, or another, they’re gonna get ya. It’s the price you will pay for convenience. And many people will be happy to pay for it. At some point, you may actually need the DOJ to kick down your door just so you can get in and make a sandwich.
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