Facebook, Amazon etc....

[Varun]

 

[crappycraperson]

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45041671

Google is developing a version of its search engine that will conform to China's censorship laws, reports say.

The company shut down the engine in 2010, complaining that free speech was being limited.

But online news site The Intercept says Google has being working on a project code-named Dragonfly that will block terms like human rights and religion, a move sure to anger activists.

Technology compines developing frameworks to assist Govts in censorship is as evil as the Govt making such laws that curb freedom of the populace.

 

[Mrs Smoker]

Can this happen?

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[berbatrick]

Can this happen?

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Matt Stoller and Matt (not related!) Bruenig, I think both have talked about it. I think some Dems like Warren are interested in it. Beyond that, nothing.

https://newrepublic.com/article/143...se-democrats-return-party-trust-busting-roots
https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2017/08/15/common-ownership-with-the-new-antitrust-movement/
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/31/16021844/antitrust-better-deal

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Did I just hear that Amazon are paying far less tax then they were last year despite making 3 times the profit in the UK???

Well done the UK government really delivering on your promises. You really are the shining light for the working class

you bunch of vacuous cnuts.

 

[Eboue]

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[Eboue]

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capital subverts democracy

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

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capital subverts democracy

Typical misleading agenda post. Chamber of Commerce and City Council don't communicate with each other and guess what.... Amazon is to blame!

50,000 jobs and $5 billion infrastructure investment.... Somehow gets lost in random guesses and conspiracy theories.

 

[Eboue]

do you get what subverts means

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Though as they have paid all the tax they are legally required (and as a very small shareholder I would go apeshit at them if they decided to give profit away they were not obliged to... Plus of course they have a legal duty to look after my and other shareholder interests... Along with a duty to pay the required taxes which they do).

Amazon shouldn't be blamed for the fact that many countries have a totally outdated tax code which allows multinationals to effectively choose what taxes they pay where.

The ineffective lumbering dinosaur that is HMRC And the politicians who set it's priorities should be the ones with their feet to the fire...

And when that starts to look like a semi realistic option I'll be selling all my shares... As for now though I've made around 70% return on my invesent this year... So thank you Mr benzos and all your wonderful accountants as I'm going to sell enough stock to fund a nice family holiday

Well said!

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

Well said!

Its also a great argument against for-profit healthcare, prisons and even education. I have a big problem with the concept of fiduciary duty when it interferes with the much more important goals of healthcare, education and prisons.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Its also a great argument against for-profit healthcare, prisons and even education. I have a big problem with the concept of fiduciary duty when it interferes with the much more important goals of healthcare, education and prisons.

I'm with you again. Blame the outdated tax codes, not the beneficiaries.

If companies like Amazon and Facebook had that much control over democracy, we'd never have seen a Trump administration. Subverting democracy is a nonsensical and populist argument worthy of a Maga supporter.

And it's not like if Amazon pays a billion more, prisons, educations and Healthcare is going to improve drastically. The problem is far more complex to make a simplistic cause and effect statement

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

do you get what subverts means

Ofc, do you?

 

[Eboue]

Subverting democracy is a nonsensical and populist argument worthy of a Maga supporter.

is populist supposed to be a bad thing?

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

is populist supposed to be a bad thing?

If it's at par with the shit Trump spouts, yes.

 

[Eboue]

what

 

[maniak]

I don't get this argument companies can't be blamed if they are just following the laws in place. I mean, they spend billions trying to change those laws with tremendous success.

 

[Eboue]

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[hungrywing]

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Someone should do a political cartoon with a one-way-mirror angle.

 

[barros]

is populist supposed to be a bad thing?

populism in politics is always bad

 

[VorZakone]

populism in politics is always bad

Why?

 

[berbatrick]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/08/has-bezos-become-more-powerful-in-dc-than-trump

“EVERYBODY IMMEDIATELY KNEW THAT IT WAS FOR AMAZON”: HAS BEZOS BECOME MORE POWERFUL IN D.C. THAN TRUMP?
The deal for an obscure $10 billion Pentagon contract suggests the extent to which Jeff Bezos is gobbling up the swamp—without the guy in the White House even batting an eye.

The controversy involves a plan to move all of the Defense Department’s data—classified and unclassified—on to the cloud. The information is currently strewn across some 400 centers, and the Pentagon’s top brass believes that consolidating it into one cloud-based system, the way the CIA did in 2013, will make it more secure and accessible. That’s why, on July 26, the Defense Department issued a request for proposals called JEDI, short for Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure. Whoever winds up landing the winner-take-all contract will be awarded $10 billion—instantly becoming one of America’s biggest federal contractors.

But when JEDI was issued, on the day Congress recessed for the summer, the deal appeared to be rigged in favor of a single provider: Amazon. According to insiders familiar with the 1,375-page request for proposal, the language contains a host of technical stipulations that only Amazon can meet, making it hard for other leading cloud-services providers to win—or even apply for—the contract. One provision, for instance, stipulates that bidders must already generate more than $2 billion a year in commercial cloud revenues—a “bigger is better” requirement that rules out all but a few of Amazon’s rivals.

What’s more, the process of crafting JEDI bears all the hallmarks of the swamp that Trump has vowed to drain. Though there has long been talk about the Defense Department joining the cloud, the current call for bids was put together only after Defense Secretary James Mattis hired a D.C. lobbyist who had previously consulted for Amazon. The lobbyist, Sally Donnelly, served as a top advisor to Mattis while the details of JEDI were being hammered out. During her tenure, Mattis flew to Seattle to tour Amazon’s headquarters and meet with Jeff Bezos. Then, as the cloud-computing contract was being finalized, Donnelly’s former lobbying firm, SBD Advisors, was bought by an investment fund with ties to Amazon’s cloud-computing unit.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

The deal for an obscure $10 billion Pentagon contract suggests the extent to which Jeff Bezos is gobbling up the swamp—without the guy in the White House even batting an eye.

Perhaps Amazon is the best company to provide this service? Are you disputing that?

I just took a look and competition for this big a contract would be Microsoft, Google, IBM, SalesForce (Alibaba ruled out obviously). I doubt any other contractor will have the capacity to challenge for this.

Would your opinions change if contract was given to Microsoft or Google instead?

And to put into perspective, Trump and Amazon have never been in each other good books.

 

[berbatrick]

Perhaps Amazon is the best company to provide this service? Are you disputing that?

I just took a look and competition for this big a contract would be Microsoft, Google, IBM, SalesForce (Alibaba ruled out obviously). I doubt any other contractor will have the capacity to challenge for this.

Would your opinions change if contract was given to Microsoft or Google instead?

And to put into perspective, Trump and Amazon have never been in each other good books.

Though there has long been talk about the Defense Department joining the cloud, the current call for bids was put together only after Defense Secretary James Mattis hired a D.C. lobbyist who had previously consulted for Amazon. The lobbyist, Sally Donnelly, served as a top advisor to Mattis while the details of JEDI were being hammered out. During her tenure, Mattis flew to Seattle to tour Amazon’s headquarters and meet with Jeff Bezos. Then, as the cloud-computing contract was being finalized, Donnelly’s former lobbying firm, SBD Advisors, was bought by an investment fund with ties to Amazon’s cloud-computing unit.
...
Much of the language of JEDI, in fact, seems specifically tailored for Jeff Bezos. “Everybody immediately knew that it was for Amazon,” says a rival bidder who asked not to be named. To even make a bid, a provider must maintain a distance of at least 150 miles between its data centers, a prerequisite that only Amazon can currently meet. JEDI also asks for “32 GB of RAM”—the precise specification of Amazon’s services. (Microsoft, by contrast, offers only 28 GB, and Google provides 30 GB.) In places, JEDI echoes Amazon’s own language: It calls for a “ruggedized” storage system, the same word Amazon uses to tout its Snowball Edge product.
...
Leading Amazon rivals like Google, Microsoft, and IBM are up in arms about the way JEDI was crafted to benefit Amazon. “Everybody in the industry was quite surprised,” says one rival bidder who asked not to be identified. On August 7, Oracle filed an official protest with the Government Accountability Office, arguing that JEDI violates federal procurement laws. In addition, some cybersecurity experts warn that allowing a single company to manage the Pentagon’s data will make it vulnerable to cyberattacks and reduce innovation.
...
If you think the JEDI contract is big, consider this: Last year, working for Bezos, Rung helped pass the so-called Amazon amendment, a provision buried in a defense authorization bill that will establish Amazon as the go-to portal for every online purchase the government makes—some $53 billion every year.

 

[berbatrick]

You are from India and are defending the sanctity of government contracting? That's a joke in itself.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

You are from India and are defending the sanctity of government contracting? That's a joke in itself.

Usually when Indian govt awards a contract, it will be to some shit company selling crap goods for overpriced value. Here it looks like the contract went to one of the best companies to be able to deliver the service. Looks like Amazon has done a good job of lobbying better than its rivals. In the end, it's a moot point unless one of the rivals has better capabilities than Amazon, which is doubtful.

 

[berbatrick]

Looks like Amazon has done a good job of lobbying better than its rivals.

Yes.

 

[Eboue]

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[Dan]

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Is there one called Mike Schatner?

 

[Raoul]

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[oneniltothearsenal]

Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook Before It Breaks Democracy?
The most famous entrepreneur of his generation is facing a public reckoning with the power of Big Tech.

 

[Eboue]

Spoiler

No

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

Spoiler

No

Former Facebook execs agree with you

"A few days later, Chamath Palihapitiya, the former vice-president of user growth, told an audience at Stanford, “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works—no civil discourse, no coöperation, misinformation, mistruth.” Palihapitiya, a prominent Silicon Valley figure who worked at Facebook from 2007 to 2011, said, “I feel tremendous guilt. I think we all knew in the back of our minds."

 

[Eboue]

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[berbatrick]

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Nobody can convince me that there isn't a radical hidden inside the socdem electable Bernie. That video is a dogwhistle towards the end, I loved it.


small aside - one thing that video maybe underestimates is how much revenue they got and still get from their data servers.

 

[Eboue]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/amazon-warehouse-set-ablaze-disgruntled-13248123

The ex-manager, who has asked to remain anonymous, said ambulances were frequently called to the Rugeley warehouse.

He claimed workers – referred to as “associates” – were involved in accidents or collapsed with dehydration and exhaustion.
He said: “Associates just couldn’t take it any more. One fell from a ladder
on to a rack behind him and couldn’t move his back. ”

The whistleblower said staff were punished for taking too long to go to the toilet and had to find secluded corners to lie down for 10 minutes mid-shift because they were so tired.

He claimed others took to sleeping in train stations because they could not afford taxis home.

at least schatners kid got stock options though

 

[crappycraperson]

Nobody can convince me that there isn't a radical hidden inside the socdem electable Bernie. That video is a dogwhistle towards the end, I loved it.


small aside - one thing that video maybe underestimates is how much revenue they got and still get from their data servers.

AWS business drives majority of the profits for Amazon. Without the same even their online retail business wouldn’t be sustainable let alone forays into video streaming business.

 

[berbatrick]

Amazon's Aggressive Anti-Union Tactics Revealed in Leaked 45-Minute Video

Here are a few of the (extensive) examples “that can indicate associate disengagement, vulnerability to organizing, or early organizing activity,” according to the video:

• Use of words like “living wage” and “steward”
  
• Distribution of petitions and fliers
  
• Associates raising concerns on behalf of their coworkers
  
• Wearing union t-shirts, hats, or jackets
  
• Workers “who normally aren’t connected to each other suddenly hanging out together”
• Workers showing an “unusual interest in policies, benefits, employee lists, or other company information”
  
• Increased negativity in the workplace
  
• “[A]ny other associate behavior that is out of character”

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

Its interesting. Silicon Valley has never been particularly fond of unions nor inclined to form them. But the old Fairchild Semicondutor/Intel model seems to be getting replaced at Tesla/Amazon with the WalMart Board outlook on union busting.

 

[The Firestarter]

The Stazi would be proud.