'Open the Pod Bay Doors, Hal.' Amazon Locks a Man Out of His Smart Home over Racism Allegations

Lincoln Brown : Jun 14, 2023
PJ Media

[The algorithm] received an accusation of racism and doled out what it deemed to be the appropriate punishment. This is what one risks when one turns one's life over to a corporation. One wrong move and it all goes away with a flip of a switch. If that. Note that Jackson did not make a racist remark. He only needed to be accused of one to have his life turned off.

[PJMedia.com] Brandon Jackson recently found himself in the midst of a problem. On May 25, he discovered that his smart home, which is tied to Amazon, was no longer doing that which he was paying for it to do. In a piece on Medium, Jackson noted that his primary way of interfacing with all of this wondrous technology is through Amazon Echo via Alexa. And lo and behold, suddenly nothing would respond to his requests or commands. (Screengrab image)

At first, Jackson thought he had possibly been hacked. But he goes to great lengths to keep his passwords secure. So with security issues off the table, what could it have been? The answer is stranger than you think. Or maybe it is part and parcel of 21st century America, and should serve as a lesson for those who are so enamored of having a "House of the Future."

On May 24, a package was delivered to Jackson's home. His doorbell camera was programmed to say, "Excuse me, can I help you?" For one reason or another the driver who was walking away from the door and wearing headphones decided that the doorbell camera had somehow uttered a racial slur. The driver filed a complaint and...lights out, so to speak. (Screengrab image: from "2001-A Space Odyssey")

It took a week, but Jackson was eventually able to gain access to his devices once again. He wrote:

Through sharing my experience, I hope to encourage Amazon to reform and rethink their approach to handling such situations in the future. It's essential for customers to feel confident in the security and reliability of their services, especially when those services are integral to the functionality of their homes. It's time for Amazon to take a more customer-focused approach to problem-solving and conflict resolution.

The problem, however, is not with Amazon's customer service. Well, it is in that any large company can be painfully slow in reacting to the needs of a customer or any problems with products. But the issue is with the Almighty Algorithm (blessed be its name) that did exactly what it was supposed to do. It received an accusation of racism and doled out what it deemed to be the appropriate punishment. This is what one risks when one turns one's life over to a corporation. One wrong move and it all goes away with a flip of a switch. If that. Note that Jackson did not make a racist remark. He only needed to be accused of one to have his life turned off... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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