> Amazon Sidewalk[0] is a low-bandwidth long-range wireless communication protocol developed by Amazon. It uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for short distance communication, and 900 MHz LoRa and other frequencies for longer distances.
There was definitely evidence, just the mainstream was never loud with it. I'm on the privacy train for more than a decade now, and smart TVs were always considered abysmal in this regard - bad defaults, low configurability, and no alternative firmware.
In reality that'll never work because the front of the tV needs to be exposed. At best you can make your whole room/house a faraday cage, but that'd be insanely expensive to do correctly. You might think a microwave is a faraday cage, but a phone can still get calls even if you put it inside.
Some people still want to receive content on their TVs in the old fashion way, using radio waves, even in their more modern form, DVB. Unfortunately a Faraday cage blocks both input and output.
Wifi can be effective up to about 300'/100m outside, but houses in the boonies are seldom that close together. If your neighbor has a smart farmhouse fully Alexa-fied, a mere tenth of a mile away, your devices won't see it.
Still plenty of cars/taxis in Europe and Waymo is much safer than human drivers. IMO legislating against them is legislating against safety. As a pedestrian I feel far safer around Waymo than human drivers.
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