Amazon Sidewalk, a Wi-Fi-sharing project, will go live on June 8

Amazon may not be as well-known as Google, Apple, and Microsoft in the technology circle, nor as famous as Facebook and Twitter in the social circle, but its business empire has expanded into many fields. Despite facing great controversy, the Internet sharing experiment project Amazon Sidewalk will be launched next month.

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Mesh networks are not new, and are becoming increasingly common even in homes and small offices. Each node not only extends the network to places where the source (like a router) can't reach, but it can also serve as a backup if one node fails. Amazon Sidewalk is trying to take advantage of this feature of mesh networks, and of course, some of its extended features have also angered privacy advocates.

First, Amazon Sidewalk's network doesn't just include your home, but your entire neighborhood. It's trying to sell the idea that neighbors with Amazon devices help neighbors with Amazon devices, providing Internet connections to these IoT devices in case someone's Wi-Fi fails. Amazon guarantees that its Internet connection speed is only 80Kbps, and it is capped at 500MB per month.

What makes it controversial, however, are the issues of privacy and security. Amazon’s white paper on Sidewalk makes considerable assurances, but in addition to using proprietary technology unknown to anyone but Amazon, it’s also built on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology, which have their own security flaws.

Amazon Sidewalk is still an experiment, but it’s one that will go live in the US on June 8. Not only are all Amazon Echo and Ring devices eligible, they’re actually opted in by default.