“By sharing a small portion of their home network bandwidth, neighbors give a little – but get a lot in return,” the report’s authors said. Alan Woodward, a professor at the University of Surrey who specializes in cyber-security, told BBC News that “Sidewalk should be an opt-in feature,” adding, “It feels wrong not knowing what your device is connected to.” Some were still skeptical of whether such a network would keep user data private. “But well before Sidewalk launches, we will notify existing customers with eligible Bridge devices so they can consider the benefits of Sidewalk before deciding if they want to change their preferences,” the representative said. “After all existing customers are notified, all customers setting up a Sidewalk Bridge for the first time will have the opportunity to enable Sidewalk during device setup. All customers will have the option to change their Sidewalk preferences anytime in their Alexa app or Ring Control Center settings.”
