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PRIVACY - AMAZON - srlevine1 - 07-11-2021
It appears that Amazon is going into the healthcare marketplace and in particular sleep monitoring.
Unfortunately, as we have seen in the past, Amazon's use of unilateral "take it or leave it" user agreements gives every legal and commercial advantage to Amazon and few rights to the user. And, Amazon transfers an unknown amount of data to its own servers, ostensibly for "improving the user's experience" -- but little said about pursuing the company's profits, including information sales to the government and foreign entities.
Will you trust Amazon with this level of intrusion -- including the monitoring of your sexual activities-- without a tough iron-clad and enforceable medical privacy "contract without the mandatory arbitration (anti-class action) clause?"
Quote:SNOOZE SENSOR Amazon granted permission to monitor you SLEEPING as tech giant develops mystery radar device
AMAZON was given the green light by federal regulators to deploy a radar sensor that monitors peoples’ sleeping.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday gave Amazon Inc. the go-ahead to utilize a radar sensor technology to detect motion in three dimensions and “enable contactless sleep tracing functionalities.”
“The use of Radar Sensors in sleep tracking could improve awareness and management of sleep hygiene, which in turn could produce significant health benefits for many Americans,” Amazon wrote in a June 22 filing seeking approval to market the radar gizmo, according to a Bloomberg report.
“Radar Sensors will allow consumers to recognize potential sleep issues.”
The tech giant suggests the item will empower people to precisely monitor sleep “with mobility, speech, or tactile impairments,” according to the filing.
Amazon didn’t immediately comment on the federal government’s endorsement.
The company has also been working to enhance the capabilities of its devices like the voice-activated Echo speakers
The company's victory allows it to move ahead with a device that will “enable contactless sleep tracing functionalities"
The description of the new tech remained ambiguous, but Bloomberg noted that the filing last month confirmed it wouldn’t be a mobile device.
The favorable FCC ruling comes two years after Google was granted the use of “Project Soli,” a radar-relying ability that bypasses touchscreens on their smartphones, Reuters reported.
The company is breaking ground in the health sector with its Halo wristband to rival Apple's watch.
Its 3D body scan sensor keeps tabs on body fat and voice tones but has also drawn concerns that such body diagnostic abilities could invade a person's privacy.
The company has also been working to enhance the capabilities of its devices like the voice-activated Echo speakers and its dud Fire smartphone to be capable of responding to hand and other gestures.
RE: PRIVACY - AMAZON - srlevine1 - 07-12-2021
FCC lifts rules so Amazon can build radar devices to track users’ sleep https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jul/12/fcc-lifts-rules-so-amazon-can-build-radar-devices-/
The Washington Times - Monday, July 12, 2021
The Federal Communications Commission waived its rules so Amazon can build radar sensors that the company says would be used to track people’s sleep.
The federal government’s exemption for Amazon paves the way for the tech giant to monitor users’ movements in the bedroom with extreme precision — all without users having to press a button.
The FCC accepted Amazon’s claim that the tech would be used to improve users’ health and wellness.
“Granting the waiver will provide substantial public benefit by, among other things, permitting the deployment of applications that can provide assistance to persons with disabilities and improve personal health and wellness,” wrote Ronald Repasi, acting chief of FCC’s office of engineering and technology, in a letter to Amazon granting the waiver. “We believe that, without the higher power levels associated with the waiver, it is highly likely that Amazon would not be able to produce devices that transmit with large enough bandwidths to provide sufficient resolution to achieve these objectives.”
Details about the product Amazon plans to build are scarce. Mr. Repasi’s letter to Amazon on Friday, first obtained by Bloomberg, noted that Amazon indicated its devices would be “nonmobile” and function only when connected to a power source.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment. In its June request for a waiver, the company indicated it needed the waiver to build devices that could monitor sleep and detect movements.
Amazon officials told the FCC that the “higher degree of resolution and location precision” offered by the planned devices would help users better estimate sleep quality and improve their awareness and management of “sleep hygiene.” The company’s officials also argued the tech could be of use to users with physical impairments.
“Facilitating touchless device control could have a substantial societal impact by greatly enhancing the accessibility of everyday devices,” the Amazon officials wrote in their request.
According to Business Insider, Amazon has explored developing a product that expands its Alexa technology, the artificially intelligent virtual assistant, to track and detect sleep apnea.
Using technology that allows users to monitor their sleep and movement, activity trackers have helped produce several new products and become omnipresent on wearable technology such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit. Amazon‘s new devices could create a product that competes with existing activity trackers without forcing users to wear a product as they sleep.
Fitbit determines that a user is asleep when the device, a band snugly fastened to a wrist, detects that a body is entirely at rest and has not moved for approximately an hour, according to Fitbit.
Adding activity-tracking capabilities to Amazon‘s Alexa-enabled devices provides an avenue for Amazon to challenge other companies vying for sleep-tracking users’ business.
But Amazon’s touchless radar technology for users’ bedrooms is likely to raise concerns about hackers invading the privacy users expect in their bedrooms.
Amazon is not the only tech company that has received a waiver for touchless technology. In granting Amazon’s waiver, the FCC noted it previously gave a waiver to Google in 2018 that the company used to deploy a mobile radar in its Pixel smartphone to enable touchless control of the device.
RE: PRIVACY - AMAZON - pholynyk - 07-12-2021
How is this device different from ResMed's now unavailable S+ sleep monitor?
Is there a legal reason why Amazon should be treated differently from ResMed? Not that I think Amazon should go into health monitoring, but what legal rationale can we give?
RE: PRIVACY - AMAZON - mesenteria - 07-13-2021
My smartphone and my Samsung Gear S2 watch record everything about me. I even think they know how often I fart, what I spend my time looking at on the www, what my news feed preferences are, what video subjects I am likely to click on when/if presented, what products I'm looking at these days, when I sleep, when I awaken, the quality of my sleep, my daily walking route and when I break into a run at times...
They'll eventually know my BP, my blood sugar level, my O2 sat level, how much I weigh, and they'll eventually get pretty good at telling me the expected date of my death.
RE: PRIVACY - AMAZON - srlevine1 - 07-13-2021
@pholynyk
I am not sure. According to ResMed, the " S+ transmits a short pulse of radio waves at 10.5 GHz and then listens for the echo of the pulse. As you move, the phase of the echo changes and is converted into a signal that reflects your movement." "The power is said to be less than 1/10 of Bluetooth."
https://fccid.io/YAK22102/ and https://fccid.io/YAKBM14 for details.
Here is whats known about Amazon -- 60 Ghz -- "To be utilized for gesture detection and sleep monitoring, the Radar Sensors require higher peak transmitter conducted output power and peak EIRP levels than currently permitted under Section 15.255©(3). Amazon therefore respectfully requests waiver of Section 15.255©(3) restricting use of field disturbance sensors to allow the Radar Sensors to operate at a maximum +10 dBm transmitter conducted output power, +13 dBm peak EIRP level, and +13 dBm/MHz peak power spectral density. In addition, for purposes of the instant waiver, Amazon will operate the Radar Sensors within a maximum transmit duty cycle of 10 percent in any 33 millisecond interval, consistent with the recent request of Facebook, Intel, and Qualcomm. Further, Amazon agrees that for purposes of computing the duty cycle, radar off-time period between two successive radar pulses that is less than 2 milliseconds will be considered “on time.”
https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10622234731686/20210622%20Amazon%20Rule%2015.255©(3)%20Waiver%20Request.pdf
Amazon will know when its business, privacy practices keep you up at night – it has an FCC-approved sleep radar • The Register
RE: PRIVACY - AMAZON - pholynyk - 07-13-2021
Thank you! That clarifies the concerns considerably. The frequency and power output are indeed a concern. It bothers me when such a dominant company is doing basic research with a eye to future profits, and bending the rules along the way.
RE: PRIVACY - AMAZON - AlanE - 07-13-2021
Probably not as bad as their Halo device but bad enough.
"Halo also offers a Tone analysis, which has nothing to do with body tone, but rather analyzes the nuances of your voice to paint a picture of how you sound to others. It can let you know when you've sounded out of line, weirdly enough.
The fitness band has two built-in mics to capture audio and it listens for emotional cues. The company says it's not intended to analyze the content of your conversation, just the tone of your delivery. It takes periodic samples of your speech throughout the day if you opt in to the feature. "
Just what we need. Another device listening to our conversations.
RE: PRIVACY - AMAZON - srlevine1 - 07-13-2021
There is always a heightened concern with the health effects of millimeter wave technologies considering the governments high tech scanners use them to map body parts at airports.
RE: PRIVACY - AMAZON - SarcasticDave94 - 07-13-2021
There should always be some concern when Big Gov changes rules for Big Company to benefit Big Company and Big Gov. In the end it always means little person loses rights or privacy.
RE: PRIVACY - AMAZON - Cpapian - 07-14-2021
Why do mega corporations have more rights than citizens