It's a bit of an open secret at this point that Amazon is also using 802.11 PAF (Public Action Frames) to aid in the magic "unbox an amazon device and it immediately is online". Would admittedly be interesting to have this side of the Echo devices also look at as the paper seems to not mention this portion of the OOB experience
> Overall, we find the Echo to be a well-designed device from the network communication perspective.<p>It seems the article does not concern itself with what the device tells Amazon about you, but rather whether it ensures only Amazon will be able to eavesdrop on you and that they do so reliably. What a "refreshing" perspective.