Wait...WHAT!?!?
In order to use the new feature, Echo owners have to open the Amazon Alexa app on their phones and import their contacts, after which they are stored in the Amazon cloud. Amazon then offers up a list of who among their contacts is an Echo owner, and automatically makes all of them part of their network, rather than letting them choose who they actually want to connect with (as most other companies do). Amazon assumed this was the best way to organize its network, apparently not realizing most of us have tons of strangers and randos in our phonebooks.
