A most unusual thing. Every once in a while I get an email from Amazon that it’s time to re-order Brother ink. I always delete these because I rarely print, but also figure it’s just Amazon reminding me to buy something.
Today I decided to opt out/unsubscribe once and for all. Instead I see this at the bottom of the email:
"Click here to view or manage settings, including the option to opt out if you are already using another replenishment service.
This took me to https://drs-web.amazon.com/settings
“The data shown is based on estimated consumption reported by smart devices and orders you place through Amazon.”
Here it had a link to “Consumption history” which upon clicking showed me the ink levels of my Brother printer for the past two weeks. Date and time.
WTF?! It is not apparent that I can disable this function. Can anyone else duplicate?
Update : This is part of Alexa it seems, and folded in to the Dash replenishment protocol; note I have never had a Dash button.
Amazon’s instructions for this were not very helpful.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201357520
Some digging revealed a Brother help document:
This bothers me quite a lot. I never authorized, opted in, or gave either device permission to connect, let alone Amazon to monitor and nag me about it!
Model: Brother MFC-J485DW
Purchased from: Best Buy, an American retailer, after July of 2019.
Firmware: N1901041316
There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.
“opt out” privacy-molestation/rape & identity-theft-facilitation NEEDS to be criminalized, it seems.
You don’t claim that pickpocketing someone’s wallet, ID, passport, and money, is “legal”, just because they didn’t complain about it, do you?
Yet that behaviour is exactly what seems to be normalizing, digitally…
Thank you for posting this, eh?
Salut, Namaste, & Kaizen!
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