Amazon Offers Service To Let Strangers Into Customers’ Homes

In a rather disturbing development, Amazon is offering a series of new smart home peripherals, which include what it calls the Amazon Key. It basically involves pairing with a new smart security camera that would allow couriers into the homes of the customers. Some are already criticizing this offer for posing incredibly high security risks.

As The Washington Post notes, the Amazon Key signifies how out of touch Silicon Valley has become to the concerns of everyday people. Normally, one would hesitate to give a stranger, even a courier access to one’s home. Yet, this is exactly what Amazon is now trying to do.

Of course, the company has put security measures in place when using the service. Basically, couriers would need to have the package’s barcode in order to show Amazon’s new Cloud Cam, which will then communicate with the smart lock through a wireless protocol called Zigbee to unlock the door.

Before the courier can get inside, however, they will need to receive the notification on their corresponding app and only then will they be allowed inside. All the while, the Cloud Cam is recording the activity, which the homeowners can view via their own smartphones.

The locks themselves are made by Yale and Kwikset, which are largely considered trustworthy lock makers, The Verge reports. However, the whole system relies on the smart camera that Amazon provides. This is indicative of Amazon’s increasingly aggressive push into the smart home market, which it already has a major stake in thanks to Alexa.

In an attempt to downplay the security and privacy concerns of users, Amazon is trying to make the whole process as minimally invasive and as transparent as possible. This is done via notifications for every step of the delivery as well as providing customers with a variety of options that will give residents a chance to prepare for the courier’s entry and vice versa.