Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Key Puts Deliveries -- And Delivery People -- In Your Home (wired.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Rushing home to sign for a package can be a chore, and nothing craters a day like having a delivery stolen from your doorstep. The question Amazon asks with its new Key app and Cloud security camera: Are those annoyances enough to let a delivery person into your home, unattended, to drop off a box? The answer should present itself soon enough, at least in the 37 cities in which Amazon will launch its new in-home delivery service as of November 8. There, customers who purchase an Amazon Cloud Cam, own a compatible smart lock, and download the accompanying Amazon Key app can grant access for in-home deliveries -- and watch the drop-offs live, remotely. The system, exclusive for Prime members, costs $250 to get started, a price that includes both the camera and a smart lock from either Kwikset or Yale. (You can also buy the cameras individually for $120, with a slight discount applied for buying multiples.) And while Amazon has gone to some lengths to minimize the creepiness of a definitionally invasive service, it still forces potential enlistees to consider just what kind of trade-offs they're willing to make in the name of convenience. Amazon says that in-home delivery will be available for "tens of millions" of items, whether it's sent same-day, standard, or any shipping method in between. As for those safety measures: Amazon's doing what it can to ensure that strangers don't game its system.
No. Just no freakin' way. The folks they will hire as delivery folks aren't going to be well paid. I can see casing your house for a later robbery as being a helluva lot more lucrative. Having "cloud security" just means it's probably not working as well as a normal security system or being used/hijacked as a DDoS zombie. Call me a Luddite, but I gotta say "Not just no. Hell no, Amazon."
I can see a new house style with either a second building like an external garage or an isolated room with its own door, with a fridge/freezer just for Amazon or other deliveries. One door would be for the deliveryperson to drop off the goodies, and another person could just open it up when inside to get stuff. That way, if the lock was forced or compromised, it wouldn't mean access to the entire house.
Install a dropbox to receive packages. Same thing UPS and FedEx use. Easy to put stuff in, but hard to get anything out unless you have the key to open it.
The key sequence to access my Slashdot bookmark in Firefox is Alt-B-S. I don't believe this is a coincidence.
Okay, first off, the one thing that they do right in this whole thing is that it's literally "buy in" (rather than opt in), because you have to purchase the lock/camera/scanner tech-package. If you don't want this service, don't buy the damn thing.
But I don't think they've really thought this out in terms of how the public is going to respond. I mean, I don't like rushing home to sign for a package, but then, I live in an apartment building, so they're supposed to be leaving the packages at the front office anyway.
But you know what else I don't like? People being in my apartment at all without my knowledge. And here's the thing... Amazon contracts out their deliveries. Who's delivering the package? Are _they_ fully trained on this system? And what time constraints are they already under?
Let me explain that last one. FedEx Ground drivers get paid based on the number of packages they deliver. They are under time crunches to deliver as many packages as possible in their day. So, what's going to happen?
Ground driver shows up, sees you have the scanner/camera thing, scans the bar code, waits for the response (hope the internet connection is good), waits for the door to unlock, puts the package inside, close the door (and make sure it locks?), and go on to the next delivery...
--- OR ----
Ground driver shows up, rings bell, ignores scanner, leaves package on front stoop or takes it back with him.
Does the lock package for the door automatically close and lock the door? If it doesn't, is the driver liable for not locking the door and anything that results because of that?
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
How many times do we have to read about this story?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
So, anyone in the neighborhood who realizes that you've signed up for this thing now knows that your alarm is likely to be turned off on any day you receive a delivery. BRILLIANT!
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
In my area Amazon does a lot of their own delivery, especially on same day or next day Prime. Out of the 12 things I've bought from them using their own couriers only 8 ever got to me. USPS, FedEx, and UPS have all been 100% during that time. I think maybe Amazon should focus on actually getting to my house before they worry about whether or not I'll let them inside.
I wonder how many people are going to come home to find Fluffy outside because it got out when the door opened.
Well hopefully Fluffy stays away from the road.
I don't have a dog or cat. Can I leave my snakes in the living room that day?
Item ordered: $79.99
Shipping: Free
The look on the delivery guy's face: Priceless!