Amazon Key bets you'll give up privacy for convenience (The 3:59, EP. 312)
Amazon Key bets you'll give up privacy for convenience (The 3:59, EP. 312)
2017-11-07
good morning on Tuesday November 7th
it's episode three 12 of the 359 podcast
my name is BBG and your host today
include Ben Fox Ruben and Roger check
the oh geez morning what's up everybody
hello we've got a great lineup for you
and we're talking about Amazon key and
the the backlash and why Ben doesn't
think backlash means as much as we think
it does and we'll analytically speak it
analytically speaking and we'll be
talking about how about blackberry again
partly cuz I want my blackberry but
those are the the shake up with the the
us phone market and so where all the
rankings are and how blackberry actually
played a part in it an unlikely part in
how the rankings checked out check out
and then we'll just offer up a tease a
little plug for CNET magazine our cover
star chadwick boseman got an interview
or we did an interview with him he talks
a lot about Marvel's black panther and a
little bit of a shout out to Lynn law
for her story part of the the turn-on
package this is about sex yeah sex
online yeah it's a sex ed it's a this
one's about contemporary sex education
the use of mediums like like online
videos of VR it's actually a really
smart piece you should have to check it
out as we're obviously the correct
parties to be giving you the speech
about the birds and the bees I know I
know it's I feel we are not I feel my
face turning red as I speak but if you
have any questions on these topics
hopefully not this next one please leave
the comments section and get to them 359
second we're apparently
thirteen-year-old boys alright stay
tuned everybody we're gonna record the
podcast and come back and we'll chat in
the chat ironically enough in 3 minutes
and 59 seconds from 3 to welcome to the
39 I'm Roger Chang I'm Ben Fox ribbon
Amazon key launches tomorrow in home
delivery service elicited some serious
public backlash but Ben you still think
it has a shot right I mean I just
analytically speaking I don't personally
like have a horse in this game sure
analytically speaking I think you know
if you were only paying attention to
social media you would think that this
thing was dead on arrival and that's
just not true
and the reason for that is is that you
know privacy speak speaking of privacy
people tend to say one thing and do
another and you called us the the
privacy paradox it's what's called the
privacy paradox and generally people
talk a big game when it comes to privacy
and that sounds gonna have a set of Star
Trek yeah but at the same time it's been
shown over and over and over again that
people will tend to veer toward
convenience as opposed to privacy right
and that's why something like Amazon key
if it provides enough benefits for
people and there's enough positive
word-of-mouth around it it could catch
on and it could end up being something
significant privacy like I saw
complaints and credit like you said
these are just come knee-jerk reactions
but I saw issue concerns about you know
what the dog coach gets let out right
all right another practical thing that's
like so minor compared to some of the
social media responses I mean like
people were saying like the delivery guy
is gonna come in and murder me you know
this was digit were like very negative
responses and I I think that that's
currently just noise those are probably
people that may not buy the service at
all and there are people are gonna vote
for this kind of thing with their
wallets and I would say you know wait
and see if this is something that does
actually happen and at least your
storage is seen like the older you were
the less likely you were to try to
service out but kind of looking at
backwards like is this really going
after Millennials or younger folks or
who exactly is the the target
demographic for the time that's a very
good question for the time being it
seems as though Millennials seem to be
very much into this whole like
convenience economy thing yeah maybe
they would be the ones to go for it but
I always thought that the older you got
the more likely you are to try to want
to get in-home services and that's why a
service like this might actually be
beneficial for sure that's the thing
like if for younger folks they're not
necessarily living in those houses that
would really benefit from the service
right right and one other thing I talked
to the CEO of latch which works on
providing a smart door lock and when one
concept that he had that I thought was
really interesting was that like one day
your smart door lock might be integrated
your uber ride where you've got like a
hot meal plated and ready waiting for
you at the dinner table which I was like
oh my god like what an incredible idea
if something like this were to catch on
all right well that's all the time we
have next up we want to talk about
blackberry the curse is still alive
right so just a little background in
Chinese consumer electronics company TCL
which makes TVs and cheap phones I
started selling blackberries they were
actually on a pretty good streak last
year they were number five in the US
they started selling blackberries and
they have dropped to six so he added a
new phone to the lamp in and changed
their life that much but they had a
blackberry two lamp and somehow ended up
doing worse what do you think blackberry
needs to do to actually generate
interest in sales I mean like they
switched over to Android because the
BlackBerry operating system really
wasn't getting traction
did that work no not at all it's still
kind of sticking into relevant relevancy
remember it's not blackberry that makes
these phones anymore they sort of
outsource or they've licensed out the
name to TCL to make Blackberry phones
yeah TCL just hasn't really done a great
job of promoting this stuff I mean there
are still some blackberry diehards out
there but it's really hard to find these
phones I think that's part of the big
problem yeah
all right lastly I just want to give out
two shoutouts one to little law on her
story part of the turn on sex package
this is a look at contemporary sex ed
which is sort of this fall somewhere
between the clinical lecture and porn
but it takes everything from virtual
reality to online videos great story
different mediums to educate folks not
just kids but but adults on not too
young well yeah definitely not to you
and then lastly are the latest issue of
seen in magazines out we've got an
interview with chadwick boseman black
panther himself gives us a couple cool
tidbits on the upcoming Marvel Universe
so that's all the time we have for those
stories and more check us out CNET I'm
Roger Tsien I'm Ben Fox Ruben thanks for
listening
all right thanks everybody that's a
conclusion of the recording of the
podcast hangout I'm gonna go ahead and
start digging through the chat see if we
got any good questions or comments to
address in the meantime Roger and Ben
you want to expand on some of these
things we always have to like hustle
through at the end of the show I didn't
saying we have to kind of cut away with
what the Amazon key mean I I mean I look
I get the privacy concerns there and to
your point you know wow that was sort of
knee-jerk reaction people haven't tried
to service out well there's also a
silliness to it right absolutely
absolutely and this is not gonna take
off if the word of mouth is very
negative people have negative
associations and negative responses to
it this is not a slam dunk by any means
like that is not what I was trying to
suggest right it's just it's not the
opposite either we're just because
people were complaining about it and
mocking it on social media doesn't mean
that it's not going to have a positive
launch so what Amazon is going to need
to do especially to protect the
reputation is to make sure that those
delivery drivers are well trained but
they don't accidentally let out
anybody's pets that are you know like
that and and that actually people that's
like and that and that people start to
get comfortable and start to realize
that there is a convenience factor here
because this is really just the first
step for them as far as the in home
delivery service what's going to be
coming in the coming months is a dog
walker maid service plum or all these
other additional services professional
services are also going to integrate
into this and personally I think that
that has a lot of potential to really
expand what commerce looks like in the
future so as an e-commerce and you know
future of Commerce reporter I find the
concept fascinating but if people don't
like it if people feel like their
privacy is being infringed and if there
are very negative it like one negative
story about this could bomb the whole
program right and just a reminder how
much does the service cost it starts at
two hundred and fifty dollars it
includes free installation and launches
smartlock as well do the blue to the
smart lock I I don't know if you have
the associated smart
box from quick-set or yale already
installed if all you need to do is then
add in the smart the security-camera I'm
not sure if they're gonna let you do
that but at this point it's two hundred
and fifty dollars for a door lock and
the security camera that Amazon makes so
big question is are you gonna do it I'm
considering it okay I mean like it
starts at 250 it goes up to like I think
320 or something that's that's like blue
what's the 320 it depends which door
locks you by okay so it's it's
definitely a significant upfront cost
and you know we don't really have a big
problem
leaving packages at our stoop right but
at the same time is it something that
maybe we want to consider I mean like
I've been thinking about it but no I
haven't you know jumped into it yet okay
questions Brett well josh and a number
of people in the chat are generally just
like this is kind of neat but up to like
cautious because you're already afraid
of smart locks getting hacked in general
yeah so people are kind of leaning away
from that regardless of Amazon's efforts
in this part I when you brought up the
idea of you know the the dog walkers and
other services plumbers etc being
included on this you know I'm wavering
back and forth I had first thought this
is a neat idea but I have an apartment
so I can't really participate in it but
the idea of being able to remotely
control because I need a cat sitter when
I go away sometimes yeah those are very
incentivizing aspects to me but at the
same which Amazon recognizes and I think
that that's why this isn't a pilot
program they're launching in 37 cities
they really want to make a big splash
with this and they're making the biggest
push for in-home delivery that anybody
is doing like Walmart is doing like a
straight to frig pilot program where
like a delivery person is gonna come in
with your groceries and put them
directly in your fridge yeah but it's a
pilot they're just kind of how does it
in the law how does that work though
it's also with a smart door lock oh so
they teamed up with August ok and so
there's there's like a lot of these
retailers are like we're gonna push
these services into your home you did
make the point that Airbnb is sort of
made a little bit more comfortable about
hanging out in someone's home or opening
up your home to somebody else
just like uber you know you're basically
using your own personal car this
or a devolution of that be is it like
allow people looking away hang on your
house is it wrong to say that there's
like this weird like digital communist
happening right now this new shared
resource without going into saying the
word communism in it I mean like there's
definitely like the tech companies are
like definitely know that they can serve
you more services if you good neighbor
policy or if you're willing to give up a
little bit more privacy yeah and I mean
that's that's sort of the bottom-line
theme for pretty much every tech company
now right yeah it's like give up a
little bit more of your identity your
privacy and stuff in this case you know
personal space and yeah we'll give you
more stuff it will make your life a
little bit easier right that's the
American Way
for a lot of people though that's that's
the thing like I do kind of somewhat
agree with Ben and I like for a lot of
people that convenience will be enough
to come and give up that level of
privacy talking to a professor cliff
Lampe from the University of Michigan
named Rory I feel like he's not like
famous or anything but he was he's super
helpful so I wanted to mention him yeah
by name but he he talked about the fact
that like in general for people privacy
is a vague notion that tends to get
pushed away for concrete benefits yeah
so if you have like this concrete
benefit of you know I'm gonna get a
cheaper ride from point A to point B you
know as in with uber right then you know
maybe certain issues of privacy or
personal social security number it's
cool right but like you know I totally
at your point though like if there is a
tangible benefit your brain will sort of
jump to that first and like the privacy
concern which is definitely a bit more
amorphous like that kind of gets pushed
to the back so actually at the I just
didn't get into the story this is a good
like you know behind the story kind of
thing is that I ended the conversation
being like you know what you're saying
it sounds like we're just basically
frogs being boiled alive slowly and our
isn't this just gonna result in us all
getting like chip implants and he said
you know if people really want see a
positive benefit from chip implants than
we are gonna have chip but yeah it's
kind of blew my mind a little bit I
would just like oh my god that's like
yeah
I guess as I was telling you like our
own Katie Collins has a chip implanted
in her it's not even science fiction and
you know it's not like she's had it for
a while - I think the only thing it does
is I think if you tap it against a phone
like her or like business card pops up
or something physical business car pops
out of her skin no no your phone like if
you tap into somebody else felt like her
like bio Oh her business card is
embedded in her hand it just flies it
just flies she can just give it to
somebody else
so what if we get to a point where if
everybody's got chips in their hands and
they shake hansoms automatic business
card exchange how create exactly what
that's why is that you like the picture
that in a terrible situation like a
skeevy bar and numbers to women yeah but
you can't do that any true doing that
the low-tech way anyway you can switch
the mode so like if you're the woman
you can like offer up the fake mrs. car
more for me different where you make his
like chip like make it like a very loud
noise like look at CES I would like we
meet so many people at these trade shows
in a various conferences like I would
love to have a way to like instantly
tracks but a lot of people are like
sorry are they business cards ran out
business cards you hear that everywhere
but kind of Awesome to like shake the
guy's hand boom business card yeah I
mean like I'm not on the chair may
disagree with you I'm not on board with
the chips that you will be embodied yeah
I mean I guess so listen I've seen that
paid me to test it out I would do it
until then I'm not volunteering for it I
think that's what happened with Katie
she did as a road for wire back before
she wore em mmm anybody out there
honestly interested in pursuing that
yeah right and also you know going back
to the original concept woth in home
delivery and services obviously we would
also love to hear from people about that
too you know delivery to chip that's the
thing is that like when you talk when
you talk about a slippery slope of
privacy yep
variably you end up with well I guess
we're gonna have chips embedded in our
bodies and like we have a co-worker that
has one there you go so it's not fiction
it's brave new world all right so on
that note let's get back into the chat
drone wolf media why would I let a
complete stranger in my home when the
way packages are left at my front door
has been working perfectly fine from me
for 50 years
makes no sense people getting too lazy
the just to clarify though he said he
would let Amazon in there before Walmart
ah and there's a discussion between him
and our buddy Matt - about you know what
the size of packages so we'll go into
that shortly but you know I personally
from my perspective I've lived in a few
apartment buildings I've never had a
front door man or anything like that
sometimes leaving the package there is a
nightmare yeah I've never had anything
I've never had anything run off but I've
had more than a few occasions where the
delivery drivers like I've been
instructed not to leave anything here
you need to come to the post office
between 130 and 197 every weekday we
have and we have co-workers that send
their packages to the office because
it's not a safe option to set it leave
it on for the person who just talked
about like how it worked for like the
last 50 John wolf yeah that for you that
is this is not the service for you
definitely not you're very fortunate but
you are extremely fortunate there are
folks even who live in the suburbs
you know packages get dropped off think
it's stolen or damaged I mean you hear
reports but all the time especially
during the holidays when people are kind
of roving around the neighborhoods
knowing that there are packages waiting
to be bragging and that's the real that
become an increasing risk right and when
you call Amazon Amazon will replace the
package so you know I was talking to
folks over the weekend about this and
they're saying that they mentioned to me
that look if your package gets stolen
then that's all the viability is on
Amazon why should I be taking the
liability by paying two hundred and
fifty dollars so that Amazon doesn't
lose as many packages and has to replace
them that's a good argument yeah I'm
like but if it is a very sensitive
package then maybe this is something
that you want to consider yeah like some
people depend on that for those who may
be you know stuck in their home a little
more or less mobile than others they
depend on these deliveries of course
that kind of defeats a purpose if you
need to have somebody drop it off for
you I don't know where my mind said what
it's really like but it's a peace of
mind type of thing where like you know
you don't want to check the stoop all
the time to see if your package showed
up you know that it's behind the door
and it's locked my feeling is is that
especially in certain neighborhoods the
second your neighbor gets like attacked
by a porch pirate you're much more
likely to end up purchasing the service
right because like that was all yeah
that's what they're called Wow porch
pirates porch I like that but there I
think also when you call Amazon about
this stuff like what exactly was their
answer to you before as opposed to we're
just gonna send you a new one at least
now to have some sort of service that
yeah yeah could help out so this is
gonna put neighborhood watches out of
business I mean I mean I grew I grew up
in a really I was getting paid to be
part of the ever hood watch right I grew
up in a really small town though and you
know a very very tight neighborhood as
well you know and we all let the the the
Connaught guy come in and read your
meter
ours was in the basement you know that's
new to come in this the side door or
whatever like that and wasn't a problem
you know Mike my cat sitter has a copy
of keys to my house that I trust them
with right well you know it's where does
your trust lie it's very subjective if
very individualistic and and people do
tend to trust big companies but better
numbers actually according to this
professor yes they do really bad people
have a tendency to trust big companies
more than they probably should because
there's anyway yeah relative to a like a
small mom-and-pop business that you've
never really worked with like if you
have no reputation elationship then yeah
like Amazon's can be there's an
assumption that they're gonna yeah
there's an assumption from people that
they protect your data because it's
their incentive to write there's more
liability as well like you go after like
if the small business like loses your
data and you go after them there's not
much you can get right right Amazon's
got deep pockets there's there's a
liability factor it's it's also it goes
back to like you know for instance
Google and Facebook have an enormous
amount of information on people but I
don't see a lot of people not using
Google Maps or lamp you know getting rid
of their facebook over privacy concerns
so it goes back
get into the privacy I don't know I'm
thinking about it we're all thinking
about it but yeah right okay so let's
get back into the chat there's still
some really great conversation going on
one proposed compromise or solution from
Scott I can see an in-between market
with a smart lockbox thing to take
packages without granting entry into the
home that exists so didn't Amazon do
that into a partnership like 7-eleven s
for a while where you could have Amazon
lockers right but what if that you could
install one of those on your property
there is a startup I don't remember what
it's called that does actually do that
the problem is with like large or bulky
exactly they're discussing things like
big TVs bicycles right like probably and
and just have a really massive Amazon
Locker now from the from seeing from the
press demo that I that I went to two
weeks ago for Amazon key they also
mentioned that a lot of people installed
Amazon key they're like the side door to
their garage so it also prevents the
delivery person from getting direct
access to your front door so what if
they took the humans out of it
completely I think this might be a bit
of a sarcastic statement from stellar
tech but the idea of a personal
automated bot that unlocks the doors and
physically travels for packages goes
back and forth so like essentially the
drone can get into your home but now
they trust the drone more than humans I
don't I've seen terminator 2 many times
right delivery with drones right but
like then they're just gonna cut out the
people completely and it's drone
delivering to another drone robots
ordering stuff from other robots it is
interesting to see the the multiple
sides of this and there's way more than
two going on iChat and you know I'm glad
that how much of you privacy versus that
convenience and this is the whole up I I
think at the very least I'm glad that
this has sparked some level of
discussion because the social media
responds immediately following this was
almost entirely a long yeah and there
was there's I feel like I felt like
there was a complete misinterpretation
of the fact that like people let all
sorts of service providers in their home
already well not without like I said the
con-ed that without being there though
sometimes yes sometimes no I'm never
like Verizon I'm talking about we
already had an existing relationship but
we did have a maid that showed up and
cleaned the house one okay two weeks
okay we have that with nanny nanny has
keys right so so my besties personally
interviewed and yeah exactly so a
serious vetting a someone who is
assigned to your and then there and that
it's that it rotates but I'm just my
argument is is that this isn't such a
foreign concept I mean like in many ways
this exists in a variety of different
social interactions but at the same time
the social norms will have to change to
a certain degree for this to actually be
an effective program alright let's keep
the conversation going we're almost out
of time some other alternatives and
Fatboy nineteen and one nine eight three
one I would let Amazon in my garage or
my shed but not my home option for this
situation can you essentially tell them
where they can go and as long as there's
a door yes separate garage garage yeah
right but like it really does depend on
what your house looks like what
neighborhood you live in
how much money you have I mean like two
hundred fifty dollars starting off is
not he's gonna price out a certain
segment of the population so that's why
it's like a luxury when you when you
asked about Millennials I was just like
I don't know the younger you are the
less likely you are to like have just
$250 burn on this yeah probably not
gonna own a house yeah so it's it's
maybe there's just not gonna be a market
for it maybe I do think there's a market
for this for apartment owners - not
necessary for Amazon Keith the way it's
run but there's there's definitely like
folks like Brian like they need some
sort of services to like allow for those
packages to be safely consistently
delivered right and the company latch is
the one that's doing that right now
within lobby delivery and they're hoping
to eventually do an apartment delivery
as well oh there you go I would be
interesting to see keep going on the
conversation whose discussion now about
drones dropping your packages through
the chimney and says isn't that just
called Santa
Christmas 2018 NORAD tracks rebel Santa
and his a tuber Rainier that was not
promised Futurama was a Santa robot is
Futurama yes lazy evil Jon exactly but
that's the beginning of it like what
we're talking about now is sort of the
first step to that that ultimate
evolution of evil so continue - is
filled with great comments and
commentary today Ben you talked about
this service Amazon Key has a special
delivery arsenal right that's it's a
different it's not a standard delivery
like you get your package from FedEx or
UPS and these are very specific
yes and what's the process like is there
a thorough background check for these
drive that's what they claim yeah it's
through its its third-party services
that Amazon has set up with to provide
Amazon logistics so no it's not through
FedEx UPS or a US Postal Service maybe
it will be eventually they say the
drivers are vetted they have existing
relationships with them these are the
drivers that already deliver a lot of
your amazon packages so but you you
probably don't know them by name maybe
you do know your mailman but you know
how long until amazon just starts their
own actual truck service and they Serbs
they do I mean like they have that yeah
they they own a lot of their own trucks
and that's also like not so outrageous
because like Walmart does the same thing
and so does turn it so you guys would be
big enough as a retailer you but that
does that go straight to consumer is
that more from like facility to facility
it depends most of those are facility to
facility but Amazon also does a lot of
like delivery straight to customers to
say on one service it is I've never seen
an actual Amazon truck pull up it's
still waited to feel that treasure truck
besides the treasure duck I've seen it I
know I was not here when it came that
would be great if they did have treasure
trucks started doing home deliveries
because I think people would really love
it could you see kids running down the
street after that Jeff Bezos like
rolling out like beige boxes but instead
oh my god the ice cream song it's
playing like a Nokia 3310 ringtone or
something like that I think we got some
on our hands here
to quit this and go after yeah we like
quit CNET and go start the trucks oh
yeah and well one of us has to shave his
head to be business and I don't have the
giant guns for it alright which probably
rapping we are out of time thanks
everybody
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everyone great discussion today yes
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