Now Amazon wants a key to your house
I GAVE Amazon.com a key to go into my house and drop off packages when I’m not around.
After two weeks, it turns out letting strangers in has been the least-troubling part of the experience.
Once Amazon owned my door, I was the one locked into an allAmazon world.
When Amazon first floated the idea of Amazon Key, an Internet-connected lock it can access, people had two responses. 1) THIS IS CREEPY. 2) I kind of want this, so my packages don’t get stolen.
But make no mistake, the US$250 (RM1,025) Amazon Key isn’t just about stopping thieves. It’s the most aggressive effort I’ve seen from a tech giant to connect your home to the Internet in a way that puts itself right at the centre.
Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, but I review all tech with the same critical eye. So I put an Amazon-compatible smart lock on my door (installation was included) and hooked up its companion Cloud Cam nearby to record who comes and goes. Then I ordered enough Amazon packages to earn overtime for Santa’s elves.
The good news is nobody ran off with my boxes - or burgled my house.
The bad news is Amazon missed four of my in-home deliveries and charged me (on top of a Prime membership) for gear that occasionally jammed and makes it awkward to share my own door with people, apps, services - and, of course, retailers - other than Amazon.
“Amazon Key has had a positive reception from customers since its launch last month,” Amazon spokeswoman Kristen Kish said. “There have been situations where we haven’t gotten it right with a delivery and we use these situations to continue making improvements to the service.”
Big tech companies love building walled gardens, in ham-handed attempts to keep customers loyal. But for an ask this big (total access to your home, after all), Amazon needs to make Key better.
Amazon’s path to home domination requires persuading Americans to connect appliances and everyday things to the Internet - thermostats, lights, even water filters. With the Echo speaker and Alexa talking
Amazon Key has had a positive reception from customers since its launch last month,. There have been situations where we haven’t gotten it right with a delivery and we use these situations to continue making improvements to the service. – Kristen Kish, Amazon spokeswoman
assistant, it’s had more luck than most companies at getting us interested.
What Amazon gets right is that the so-called smart home has to solve real problems. Smart locks have been around for years, but Amazon Key finds a real use for them: stopping package theft.
Amazon smartly paired the lock with its security Cloud Cam. Having a camera - which only you can watch, and which must be powered up for the door to unlock - makes this a little less terrifying. (If the power goes out, you can always open the door with an old-fashioned key.)
When you use Amazon Key, you get a phone alert with a window when a delivery might occur. If no one is home, the delivery person taps an app that grants one-time access to unlock your door, places the package inside, then relocks the door. (They don’t recommend Key if you have a pet, and won’t come in if they hear barking.) The moment the door unlocks, the Cloud Cam starts recording - and sends you a live stream of the whole thing. It’s a surreal 15 seconds.
Even if your family runs on Prime shipping, this scenario would likely test your faith in Amazon. There are certainly lessinvasive ways to keep packages safe, like lockboxes or shipping to the office. The company promises deliveries are only made by Amazon employees it thinks are trustworthy. It also says that it will “correct the problem” if your property gets damaged. (In the fine print, you also agree to arbitration, rather than a lawsuit, if something goes really wrong.)
Amazon’s drivers earned high marks for discretion. Most of them opened the door just enough to slide in a package.
The Amazon workers are no doubt aware they’re under digital surveillance. Amazon’s systems monitor their whereabouts before they can unlock the door, and when they lock it again.
But worry about a creepy driver turned out to just be the beginning of Amazon Key’s problems. — Washington Post