"Update: I was not truly in the dark for a week. My smart home runs mostly locally and Alexa really is just a polymorphic interface. I was just able to use Siri. Though out of habit I’d sometimes say “alexa” only for her to remind me she’s locked out."
So none of this home shutdown actually happened. It's fake news.
So the guy was saved by dependency on two corporations instead of one. That fixes the monopolistic control issue, but not the remote disabling of devices and services that you paid for and are supposed to control.
